


Remembrance

by edibna



Series: We're Gonna Have to do This Together [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Peter Parker, Gen, Infinity War spoilers, Nightmares, Overprotective Tony Stark, Panic Attacks, Parent Tony Stark, Part 2, Past references to bodily harm, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Sequel, Swearing, There is swearing, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, be warned, past references to suicide, post: infinity war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-05-29 01:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 39,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15061892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edibna/pseuds/edibna
Summary: After their first major fight, everything goes wrong for Tony and Peter.Peter wakes up one morning with no memory of any of the last few months since his Aunt May passed away from cancer.Tony is just trying to figure out what the soul stone did to his kid, and why Peter doesn't seem to trust him anymore. With their relationship already strained, can they deal with sudden, magical memory loss from a stone that doesn't seem to exist in the Universe?They may have come far, but it was all erased in the blink of an eye.





	1. The Fight

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again everyone! I am back with the sequel to We're Gonna Have to do This Together. If you have not read that and you are here, please read We're Gonna Have to do This Together first. This is going to be very confusing if you read it as a standalone fic. 
> 
> Also! There will be lots of Iron Dad and Spider son here, don't worry. There will be some angst, but these are all things Tony and Peter need to work out and were left open in We're Gonna Have to do This Together. For funsies, you may want to read the first ten or so chapters over again to compare to here! We will see Peter deal with things a little differently here. Please be patient with the characters because this time, they have to grow in a different way. 
> 
> Also, I don't expect this to be as long as We're Gonna Have to do This Together was, but you never know!
> 
> So, with that being said, enjoy!

“Peter! Watch out!” Tony had yelled.

Peter groaned internally, happy it wasn’t out load and hadn’t gone through the coms. Tony was being far too overprotective again. Peter had known the missile was heading his way. His spider sense had picked up ages ago, and he was out of the way the moment he sensed it.

But of course, his dad didn’t seem to remember that. Ever since he had gotten out of the soul stone, Tony was a worry-wart. Any battle, anything even reminiscent of danger and Tony was worried about Peter. It had gone too far. He knew his dad was only trying to keep him safe, but just a few weeks ago, they had proven he could lift 13 tons of weight with Shuri. Now Tony was worried about every day battles that weren’t even involving super-humans.

The battle that day was simply caused by three guys who had managed to steal some missiles and their firing mechanisms from the government. They were threatening to destroy buildings, and Peter had a healthy sense of the danger involved, but knew this was an easy job.

Peter could handle it. He knew he could.

But Tony had even called Thor in on the job, even though Peter could have probably handled it on his own without Tony or Thor there. It was a little insulting, but Peter was trying to be as patient as possible, because they both had their scars from what had happened. No matter how patient he tried to be, though, it was still getting under his skin that his dad didn’t trust him.

“I’m fine, dad.” Peter replied, trying to sound as calm as possible. The middle of a battle was nowhere to get into an argument, and Peter knew that.

Tony, of course, had picked up on it. “Do I hear an attitude coming from golden child Peter Parker Stark?”  

It was meant as a joke, but it bothered Peter anyways. “Yeah, well, how about we focus on this fight instead of talking since you’re so worried I’m gonna be hit?”

There was literal radio silence and Peter knew he had just fucked up. “Excuse me?” Tony said, slowly.

“Is everything alright?” Thor asked, as he shot lighting at a missile that was coming towards them. Thor looked, for lack of a better word, bored, which Peter completely understood.

“Everything’s fine. You bored?” Peter asked him.

“A little.” Thor admitted.

“Well, I can end this then.” Peter said. He jumped down off of a roof, and then off of a missile, ignoring the cry from Tony. As soon as he touched the ground, he knocked the three men out, webbing them up as he did so. “Got them.” He called out.

“Peter Parker Stark!” Tony yelled. “You can’t just do shit like that. You could have been hurt!”

Peter’s frustration was too high for Tony to be chastising him now.

“Last I checked, I was Spider-man, Tony.” Peter snapped. “It comes with the job description.”

“Yeah, and being Spider-man means you stay alive, not jumping head first into danger.”

“I was fine!” Peter yelled. “I am fine! I caught the bad guys!”

“Indeed, he did.” Thor said. “Good work, Peter.”

“Don’t praise him.” Tony said, and Peter’s jaw dropped in shock. “He put himself at risk.”

“The guy was throwing missiles at us! We were all at risk!” Peter said.

“Yeah and you put yourself into more danger by jumping off of one of them that could have exploded at any moment!”

“I’ve done way worse!”

“Which is not okay!”

“I have to be able to do my job, Tony!”

“Keep this up and I’m taking the suit!” Tony yelled, his voice sharper than Peter had heard it in a long time.

Peter physically took a step back. Tony hadn’t threatened to take the suit since Peter was fifteen, back when Peter had been trying to stop the Vulture. The threat hung in the air thickly, and Peter felt his anger grow.

“I’ll see you back at the Tower.” Peter said, and webbed away without another word. He didn’t want to say anything he would regret.

“You think you can just web away from me?” Tony said, through the coms. Peter groaned, knowing that Tony wouldn’t let this go.

“Don’t you two actual Avengers have to put the guy in jail or something?” Peter asked. “You said keep myself safe. I’m safe in the Tower.”

“Thor and I are handling the bad guy, but there is no reason for you to be acting so pissy about nothing!”

“Oh, yeah. No reason to act pissy, huh?” Peter said, as he webbed through the streets of New York. “It’s not like you’re always letting me fight bad guys and having faith in my powers or anything! Jesus, Dad, Its almost like when I had my strength tests, I only lifted 13 _pounds_ instead of 13 _tons_!”

“Peter! You know I am just trying to keep you safe.” Tony said. “You used to be fine with that.”

“I’m not fine you babying me, dad!” Peter said, about halfway to the Tower. “You never did that before! I’m still Spider-man no matter what has happened in the past!”

“It’s not babying, it’s keeping you safe.” Tony insisted.

“I beg to differ.”

“Jesus, Peter. You need to chill out about this. I’m your dad and what I say goes.”

“Yeah, well you’re acting way too protective to be the dad I know.” Peter said. “Karen, shut down coms.”

“Done, Peter.” Karen said.

“You think you can end a call on a suit I designed?” Tony said, his voice coming back through angrily. “What the hell has gotten into you, kid?”

“A desire to be away from you!” Peter yelled. “Can’t you see I’m trying _not_ to talk to you!”

“Fine, if that’s what you want, that’s what you get. Talk to me when you’ve chilled out a little, Peter.”

And the call ended, leaving Peter in silence.

Peter got back to the Tower, and stumbled onto the roof. He didn’t go inside yet, content to look at the view rather than having to deal with anyone else. His anger was slowly fading away as he overlooked the New York skyline and was on his own.

Peter had never really fought with Tony before, so he didn’t know what was going through the older man’s mind, or how to handle it from there. Peter knew she shouldn’t have lost his cool, but couldn’t help it. The anger from losing May again was getting to him, plus he was holed up in the Tower and never left to do anything on his own.

But Peter also knew Tony was worried about his overall safety, and now Peter had gone and started a fight about it instead of being grateful he had someone to be worried about him.

Peter let out a loud sigh, feeling guilty for what was said.

He couldn’t take it back now, though.

He knew he would say something he would regret.

-

There was a knock at Peter’s door some time later. Peter tensed, and was concerned that it was Tony coming to yell at him, but when he opened the door, he was both relieved and disappointed to see Thor.

Even though Tony might have yelled at him, it would have been nice to actually talk it all out.

“Man of spiders.” Thor said, a gentle smile on his face. “I have come to have a talk with you.”

“Come on in.” Peter said, opening his door wider for Thor, who walked in, looked around for a moment, and sat on Peter’s bed. A while ago, Peter would have freaked out at the thought of the literal god of thunder sitting on his bed. Now, this was his new normal.

“I heard your … disagreement with Stark earlier.” Thor said.

“Great.” Peter muttered. “That’s not mortifying at all.”

“I believe I detected sarcasm.” Thor said.

Peter sighed. “Yeah you did. I guess you’re here to tell me I need to go talk to him?”

“I actually wouldn’t recommend that. He is currently playing extremely loud… extremely disturbing music in his laboratory.” Thor said.

“He does that when he’s mad.”

“Yes, well, anger is normal.” Thor said. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. You did not come out for dinner, and you were not yourself in our battle today.”

Peter looked away. “No, I wasn’t.”

“What is going on? Normally you and Stark get along so well.”

“Did you… do you happen to notice how protective he is over me?” Peter asked. “Like how he freaks out over every little thing?”

“I am not sure what you mean.”

“You’ve had to have noticed.” Peter said.

“Well, he does seem concerned in battle. More so with you than anyone else on the team.”

“He totally is!” Peter said, his frustration building back up. “And it’s also way more than that. Yesterday I stubbed my toe and he made me do an x-ray!”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, but I assume it was an over-reaction for the injury obtained?”

“Yes, yes it was. There was no need to do all of that. There was no need for you even be in the battle today! I had that!”

“I admit, it did seem as if you were perfectly competent.”

“It’s just that, with all of this soul stone stuff that just happened, dad is so worried about me. Like way too worried. I know I was gone for a week and all, but I’m fine! I’m good! I don’t need someone babysitting me like I can’t do anything.”

“It seems you are rightfully upset, young spider. What do you normally do when this happens?”

Peter paused. “I … I don’t know. We’ve never fought before.”

“Really?” Thor asked, looking shocked. “I find that hard to believe given Starks… personal tendencies.”

Peter was about to ask what Thor meant, but he felt someone watching him out of the corner of the room. He turned to look at whatever it was, but found nothing there.

Peter sighed and turned back to Thor, who didn’t even seem to have noticed. It could have been a ghost or something, but Peter didn’t care to find out. The Tower could not be haunted, on top of everything else. Tony would actually put him in a bubble, then.

“How do you handle fights with family, then Thor?” Peter asked, taking his mind off of whatever was in the corner.

“Well, my father banished me, and Loki… well, he tended to stab me, which resolved lots of issues.”

Peter blinked in shock. “Yeah, something tells me that’s not gonna work out here.”

“I fear I am not the best at giving advice here, young spider.” Thor said. “My family issues are … not normal. And yours are completely normal.”

“Thor, my dad and I just got into a fight over me launching myself at a missile during a battle. I don’t think that qualifies as normal.”

“I think it is completely normal.”

Peter decided to let that one go. It wasn’t a good idea to argue with the god of thunder when he was only trying to help.

“So, did any of your family fights actually work out?” Peter asked, instead.

“Some did. Mostly with stabbing.” Thor said. “Or magic.”

“Huh… wish I had some of that right now.”

“Wasn’t the soul stone inside of you a few months ago?” Thor asked. “That could be considered magic.”

“Not that kind.” Peter said. “If I ever touch one of those things again my dad will kill me and I would have had it coming.”

“That is probably for the best, then. It should all work out. If I could forgive Loki for everything he has done, then you can forgive Tony.”

“I thought Loki died.” Peter said.

“Uh, yes, he is very dead. So much so that I forgave him after death.”

Peter wanted to ask, but it he figured it wasn’t worth it. Thor wouldn’t tell him anything anyways.

“You really think it will all work out?” Peter asked, instead.

“I know so, young spider. Just look at how far you two have come! Tony is much less irritating than he was years ago and you… well, you are very strong.”

“Thanks, Thor.” Peter said, though he wasn’t sure if he should thank him or be insulted.

“Tony will come around. The man acts very angry until all of the sudden he misses whoever he is angry at and forgives them. The same thing happened when I blew up the common room after I fell off the road in Mario-Kart.”

Tony totally hadn’t forgiven Thor for that one yet, but Peter didn’t want to tell Thor that. So, he nodded, content to let the god of thunder believe that Tony had forgiven him. Besides, with the fight that just happened between Tony and Peter, the older man probably had forgotten it.

“Listen, Peter.” Thor said. “You two have come so far. It is time for you to see it.”

“It’s hard sometimes.” Peter said, “Especially when you say stupid things to the one family member you have left.”

“I assume you’re talking about Stark. He will forgive you, Peter. You two will rise to the challenge of being father and son again.”

“Hopefully.” Peter said, sighing. “Thanks for coming to talk to me Thor… I actually feel better. Maybe you’re also the god of pep talks too.”

“I cannot tell if that was an insult or a compliment, so I shall take it positively. Good luck, young spider.” Thor said, and he left Peter’s room with a pat on Peter’s shoulder.

Peter sighed, alone again. After a moment of quiet, he noticed something was still feeling off.

Peter shook it off. It had to be the fight with Tony. It had to be.

Whatever it was, it was gone a few minutes later. So, Peter decided he would go talk to Tony.

As he got to the door though, Peter hesitated. Maybe Tony was still angry. Maybe going down there now would only lead to a worse fight than they already had. He thought about it for a moment, before shaking his head and walking back over to his bed. It wasn’t a good time for this. Maybe they could talk tomorrow. Maybe Tony would be over it, or have completely forgotten about it come morning.

Peter was right that someone would have forgotten about the fight, but it wouldn’t be Tony, and it wouldn’t be just the fight that was forgotten.

As Peter dozed off, he didn’t notice that something had come into his room, and that same something messed with his mind. In fact, Peter didn’t notice anything at all.

But he woke up a different person.


	2. Lost Memories

Peter woke up in an unfamiliar environment. He looked around the room, blinking in shock as his consciousness came back to him slowly. He had no idea where he was. This room was way too big to be his, and last he checked, the New York City skyline he was looking at was nothing like the one he had in his apartment.

Everything in the room was nice. The ceilings, the floors, and even the windows screamed money. Money was one of the things Peter associated with Mr. Stark.

Peter groaned when he realized he had to be at one of Mr. Stark’s penthouses. What had he done to warrant the man’s attention after six months of not talking to him? Had he completely fucked something up as Spider-man? Had he gotten injured?

Why would Mr. Stark start talking to him now? Why was Peter waking up God knows where, now?

Peter let out a sharp sigh, and ran his hands through his hair. He was going to have to face whatever Mr. Stark had planned for him, and he bet it wasn’t going to be good. Peter was probably going to be yelled at, or he was going to have the suit taken away.

Great. Just great.

Peter figured he needed to face the music sooner rather than later. Once whatever was coming his way was over with, he would be able to go back to his apartment with May and go back to normal life.

Peter got up and walked out of the room. There was an awkward moment when he looked down both ends of the hallway, trying to figure out where the living room was to this place, and settled on walking in the direction that had the most light.

That turned out to be the right direction, and he walked in to Mr. Stark leaning on a countertop, taking a sip of coffee. Peter immediately looked at his feet, not being able to look at the man directly.

“Oh, done with your hissy fit, are you?” Mr. Stark said, his voice clipped.

Peter’s head snapped over to look at him, any awkwardness replaced with anger. “What?”

“Oh no, you’re not gonna finally come out of that room and give me an attitude, kid.” Mr. Stark said. “We are going to talk about this, and things are going to go back to normal.”

Peter paused, unsure of what to say. He had never seen Mr. Stark pissed before, so he decided to play along, even though there was a part of him that was angry, hoping he would be able to get out of this as unscathed as possible.

“So… I’m sorry for what happened yesterday.” Peter said.

“Good, you should be.” Mr. Stark said. “I’m just trying to protect you, kid.”

“Funny way of doing it.” Peter muttered.

“Excuse me?” Mr. Stark challenged. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Nothing… just… you have a very distant way of protecting someone.” Peter said.

“Is this some form of sarcasm, Peter?” Tony asked. “Because if it is, I’m going to have ask you to stop. This is a serious conversation, no sarcasm allowed.”

“I’m not being sarcastic, Mr. Stark.” Peter said, shrugging. “I’m just being honest.”

Mr. Stark paused, before he slowly glared at Peter. Peter almost took a step back. What had he done? “It’s like that, is it? You know I really thought better of you, kid.”

“For what?” Peter asked.

“What, you don’t know?” Mr. Stark said. “God, I don’t know where this fucking attitude came from this morning, Peter, but I’ve had enough. You can go back to your room until we’ve both calmed down.”

“My room?” Peter asked. “Since when do I have a room?”

Mr. Stark paused, looking almost confused. “This isn’t funny, Peter.”

Peter shrugged. “I’m not laughing. All I know is you haven’t talked to me in six months and now I’m waking up in some random tower that I’ve never been to before.”

Mr. Stark slowly sat his coffee down, looking at Peter in a pure state of shock.

“What?” Peter asked, not sure why Mr. Stark was looking at him in that way. “Look, I need to get back to Aunt May. She’s probably worried by now.”

That wasn’t true. May had been sleeping in almost every day recently, so she was probably still asleep and hadn’t even noticed he was gone, but Mr. Stark didn’t know that. Here recently, Mr. Stark didn’t know much about Peter.

“Peter…” Mr. Stark said, slowly. “What’s today’s date?”

“Don’t you know what the date is?”

“I do.” Tony said, “But I just want to make sure you do, too.”

“It’s like … March, right? March 15th, 2017. School gets out in a couple of weeks, and I have finals soon.”

Whatever reaction Peter was expecting was not what he got. Mr. Stark let out a shaky breath, and leaned against the blue countertops. Peter thought to himself that those seemed like an odd color for Mr. Stark to pick, but he also figured that wasn’t the best thing to focus on at that moment.

“No, no, no, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” Mr. Stark said. “You’re joking, right? You’re just messing with me and none of this is happening?” At Peter’s lack of response, Tony added, “Look, Pete, jokes over. What’s really today’s date?”

“I just told you it.”

“Oh God, you’re being serious.” Mr. Stark said.

“Yeah, I am.” Peter said. “What’s going on, Mr. Stark?”

Mr. Stark let out a sound that almost sounded like a cry, before pulling himself together.

“We need to go down to the lab … right now.”

-

It was amazing how emotions could change in the span of a second.

Tony had been near furious when he saw Peter this morning. They never fought. In fact, this was their first major argument, and he wanted it to be over so he would have his kid back, but the minute Tony realized that Peter wasn’t joking about the date, every ounce of anger left him, and was replaced by pure fear.

Tony couldn’t lose his kid in this way. He was supposed to have him back, forever, safe and sound, not safe and sound with no memory of Tony ever taking the kid in.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” Tony said, the moment they were in the lab. “Do a scan.”

“No physical injuries, and no known energy sources either, Boss.” The A.I. responded.

“Great.” Tony muttered. “Of course not.”

“Mr. Stark, what is going on? Why am I here?” Peter asked.

Tony sighed. “Kid, I don’t know how to explain this to you.”

“What, that for some reason you decided to talk to me after six months? What did I do to make you finally decide I was worth your time?”

Tony was instantly reminded of when Peter was angry at the loss of May. That was the only time Tony had seen Peter this mad, other than yesterday. Tony was trying to remember how he dealt with it, when his mind stumbled on to another problem, a major one.

Peter didn’t know May was dead.

“Peter… uh, there’s something I need to tell you.” Tony said, solemnly.

“What?” Peter asked. “You’re taking the suit away?”

“No, no, it has to do with something else.” Tony said, avoiding the topic of Spider-man altogether. That had been what had started the fight yesterday; he didn’t need to bring it up now.

“Then, what?”

“Kid… it’s not March, and … you don’t need to worry about getting back to May.”

Peter looked confused. “What do you mean it’s not March?”

“Kid, its August, and May died at the end of March.”

“…Died? Of what? You have to be joking, Mr. Stark.”

“Fri.” Tony said. “Pull up May’s obituary.”

The newspaper clipping from months ago appeared on a screen near him. Tony didn’t need to turn to read it, because he had written it a while ago when he was helping Peter plan the funeral.

Peter slowly walked up to the screen, looking shocked.

“No, no.” Peter said. “This says cancer, but she’s fine!”

“Has she been sleeping in later?” Tony asked.

Peter didn’t answer, but Tony knew even without the response. There was a moment when Peter stared into space, processing the news. Then, Peter put his head in his hands, and Tony grabbed his shoulder, about to pull the kid into a hug, but Peter pulled away. Tony was frozen in shock. The kid had never pulled away from physical contact before, but then again, Peter didn’t know Tony any more.

“So…” Peter said, his voice shaky, “I’m in foster care?”

“What?” Tony asked, somehow even more shocked at the question. “No.”  

“Living with Ned?”

Tony shook his head slowly.

“Then, who?”

“Me…” Tony said. “Peter, May appointed me as your guardian before she died.”

Peter stared at Tony for a long moment, his face not expressing much.

“I guess that makes sense.” He said, after a long moment. He still looked wrecked, but also like he was taping it all together.

“Kid… I know you’re not okay.”

“No, I’m fine.” Peter said. “So, what happened to me? Why don’t I remember anything?”

“I don’t know. Memory loss maybe?” Tony said, sighing at the obvious change in subject.

“Like a concussion?”

“You didn’t go out as Spider-man last night, so I would think not.” Tony said. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. didn’t detect any signs of one either.”

“Is that the A.I. you keep talking to?”

“I am insulted, young boss.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. chirped in.

“Fri, not now.” Tony said, ignoring Peter’s confused look.

“So… you just took me in?” Peter asked. “I have a room and everything?”

“Well, yeah.”

“And where is this?”

“Avengers Tower.”

Peter’s eyes didn’t even light up at the mention of the Avengers. He looked over at the obituary again and Tony could see Peter was holding back tears. Tony wished the kid would let it all out, but he didn’t seem to want to.

“Cool,” Peter said, but his voice was flat.

Tony opened his mouth to tell Peter about the adoption, but stopped himself. If Peter didn’t even want Tony touching him, would he be okay with the adoption? Peter was his son now, but what if the kid didn’t want that anymore?

So, Tony closed his mouth, and kept his thoughts to himself.

“Whatever happened, didn’t happen because of an injury.” Tony said, sighing and doing what he did best, talk about business. “I hate to say this, but it may be because of something… magical.”

“Like … Dr. Strange magical?”

“Probably.” Tony said. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. can you contact Strange and tell him to come to the Tower?”

“Of course, boss.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied, and an awkward silence fell over them.

“So, May’s gone, huh?” Peter asked, looking down at his feet.

“Yeah,” Tony said. “How do you feel about that?”

“What, did you get a therapy degree in the last six months?” Peter asked.

Tony was a little insulted. “I’m asking how you’re doing, kid. You just got bad news.”

Peter shrugged, and looked out the window. “I don’t know. I’m sad… but I guess it makes sense. I feel like it’s something I was already working on accepting… even though I just found out about it.”

“Yeah, well… you were getting there before all of … this happened.”

“So… what’s it like here?” Peter asked. “What’s the rules? Don’t break anything and don’t bother you?”

Tony was definitely insulted. “What the hell do you mean?”

Peter shrugged. “I just want to make sure I don’t cause too many issues here just because I lost my memories. You’re a busy man, and the last six months proves it.”

“That… was a while ago, Peter.” Tony said. “You don’t really have many rules here, other than don’t get yourself hurt, which obviously you’re not doing great at.” The last part was mostly to himself, but Tony knew Peter would have heard it.

And of course, the kid did. “I’m Spider-man, Mr. Stark. Getting hurt is gonna happen.”

Tony rolled his eyes. Of course the kid would have the same opinions on Spider-man. Losing his memories wasn’t going to change that.

“Yeah, well, being a superhero affects more than just you, kid. How about the people around you who care about you?”

“Well, first of all, all of the people who are about me are dead, except for Ned. And second of all, if that’s true, why don’t you quit being Iron Man? Obviously, the people around you are worried and you get hurt all the time.”

Tony’s jaw dropped. Peter was never this blunt around him. He was when he was kidding, but never in serious conversations. This Peter in front of him was almost seething in anger, which, the first go around of this, Tony had somehow managed to avoid. This time, he was technically grieving for May all over again and now, he didn’t even remember anything that Tony had done for him.

Tony wished he could have avoided the fight yesterday. Maybe then the kid wouldn’t be so angry and they could make sense of it all without the anger’s burden.

There was a loud sound in the corner of the room that pulled Tony out of his thoughts, and both of them turned to see Strange walking through a portal.

“Stark,” Strange said. “How can I save your ass this time?”

Tony rolled his eyes, the stress of his day getting to him. “You’ve barely ever saved my ass, Strange.”

“Ah, you call for my help and you insult me. We’re off to a great start, Stark.” Strange said, before his eyes moved to Peter. “Hi, kid.”

“Hi.” Peter said.

“We have a problem.” Tony said.

“As you always do.” Strange replied. “What is it this time?”

“Kid, what day do you think it is?” Tony asked.

“Really?” Peter said. “Do you have to embarrass me in front of the wizard?”

“I’m not embarrassing you.” Tony said. “I’m trying to prove a point.”

“Whatever is going on isn’t a point! Why can’t you just say I have memory loss?”

“That’s not dramatic enough, Peter.”

Peter rolled his eyes, and looked at Strange. “I have memory loss that might be caused by magic.”

Strange raised his eyebrows and looked between the two. “You two are fighting like you were on the ship in space.”

“You mean when we went to Titan?” Peter said. “That I remember.”

Tony sighed. “He remembers up to March.”

“So, I need to fix whatever has happened.” Strange said, catching on immediately. That was one of the few things Tony liked about Strange was that the man didn’t waste time being shocked about things. He got right down to business.

“Or at least give me a direction to go in.” Tony replied, sighing.

“You and this kid need to stop getting in trouble.” Strange said, walking over to Peter. Tony agreed with him, even if he didn’t say it out load. It would be nice if things slowed down for a while.

“So, what are we about to do?” Peter asked.

“I am about to see if there are any spells on you.” Strange said. “If there are, hopefully I can reverse it. If not, we’ll find the person who did it.”

Peter nodded.

“Stay still.” Strange ordered, and he put his hands on Peter’s temples.

It was not a second into Strange trying to search in Peter’s mind before an explosion blasted through the room. It reminded Tony of when Wanda tried to grab Peter back when the soul stone was still inside of him, except Peter was still in the same place, and Strange was the only one blasted across the lab.

“Strange!” Tony yelled, running over the man, after a moment of staring in shock. Peter had tendrils of yellow magic around him, but they disappeared when the kid ran over to Strange right next to Tony.

“Well, there is definitely something going on.” Strange slowly said, as he tried to sit up.

“Are you okay?”

“Barely.” Strange said, and his hands shook as he grabbed at his head.

“Do we need to take you to the Medbay?” Tony asked, looking at man’s hands.

“No, no, I’m fine. They do that often. Just help me up.” Strange said, and Tony did what was asked.

“I am so sorry, sir.” Peter said, looking guilty.

“Kid, it’s fine.” Strange said. “I figured if it was something that didn’t want to be messed with, then something like that would happen.”

“That was eerily familiar.” Tony said.

“What? You’ve seen something like that before?” Strange asked.

“Yeah, back when …” Tony looked at Peter, and considered his next words carefully. “Back when we had an orange problem.”

“You’re not gonna tell me?” Peter asked, sounding offended.

“Kid, not right now.” Tony replied.

“Do you think it’s one of them?” Strange asked, ignoring Peter’s glare at Tony.

“Yeah, it has to be. What else could the kid have gotten to in the twelve hours he was in his room?”

“He _is_ your kid.”

Tony glared at Strange for the comment, before he looked over at Peter, who was slightly red in the face.

“He’s my guardian.” Peter added, and nothing sounded worse to Tony’s ears.

“Right, sorry. I forgot.” Strange said, not even perturbed by the kid’s reminder. “So, you think we need to go on a hunt?”

“Definitely.” Tony said, pulling himself together enough to focus on something else. “Although, this time, it’s me hunting for that thing. Maybe once we find it, I can get it to leave us the hell alone.”

“Probably a good plan. I’ll talk to some contacts.” Strange said, then then he glanced in the direction of Peter. “In the meantime, it may be a good idea to stop keeping secrets.”

With a wink, Strange teleported away. Tony wished he could smack the shit out of the wizard in that moment. Peter had definitely heard that comment, and it was more than likely about to start another argument, which Tony did not have the patience for.

Peter was fine without knowing everything. Information overload for the kid led to sensory overload and Tony was so near a panic attack that he could not deal with that in that moment. And telling the kid anything about the soul stone, if last time was any indication, would not lead to good things.

But of course, Peter didn’t know that, and was frowning in Tony’s direction.

“What, kid?” Tony had to ask, even though he knew it wasn’t in his best interest to.

“Maybe Dr. Strange is right. Keeping secrets is bad.” Peter said.

Tony sighed. “Look, Pete, you just had a crazy day and found out you are missing months of memories and your Aunt just died. If I told you everything that happened in the last six months, you would be extremely overwhelmed, which, for you, leads to bad things, and I am not okay with dealing with any more shit today, so forgive me if I’m trying to do the right thing and not overwhelm you.”

“But you will tell me?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, yes. Eventually. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do, though.” Tony said, and he picked up a screwdriver to fiddle with, needing to get some of his anxious energy out. “And I have to figure out what happened.” He added, sighing.

“You don’t have to.” Peter said, his voice small. Tony looked over at the kid in shock. “I get the general gist of it around here. You’re a provider, I get to stay here for free. So, don’t worry about me, Mr. Stark. I’ve got it. I’ll stay out of your way and you can do your own thing.”

“Kid…”

“I’m serious.” Peter said. “I get it, and you don’t have to feel guilty. Look, I think today is Sunday, if the clock on your computer is right. I’ll be up for school in the morning and you don’t have to worry about anything else. Everything is back to normal… which is for the best.”

“I never-“

“See you, Mr. Stark.” Peter said, interrupting him.

Peter left Tony’s lab without looking at Tony, who was completely heartbroken at what had just happened. That kid was his son, and now Peter only looked at him as a provider.

How had this happened? It had to be because of the fight. Yesterday, if Tony had known this would be what would happen, Tony would have never pursued that stupid argument with Peter. He would have let it go, and maybe they would have been in a better place than they were now.

The last thing Tony had heard from Peter yesterday was that he wanted to be away from Tony. And now, Peter was gone, or at least the version he knew, and Tony was facing an impossible task, which was getting the old Peter back.

Tony took a deep breath, needing to calm himself down. He still knew the kid better than anyone else, and even if Peter didn’t want him to be his father, then tough shit, because that’s what Tony was.

Even if the kid fought him, Tony Stark was not Howard. He wasn’t going to step away from Peter when things got hard.

He couldn’t, for his own sanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed! I know some of concerned/frustrated that Peter has forgotten everything and therefore has lost all progress that was made in the last book. I get that. Tony, however, has not lost his progress which will prove interesting for his interactions with Peter here on out. 
> 
> Also, Peter is not all gone here. He is still the amazing kid we all know. 
> 
> Anyways, enough from me!


	3. Back to School

Peter woke up early due to his stomach begging for food.

He hadn’t felt this hungry in a long time. Thinking back to yesterday, he had found pizza in the fridge that he had eaten, so it wasn’t like he hadn’t eaten in days, but for some reason, he felt as if he were close to passing out.

Peter hadn’t spent much time looking at his room. In fact, he only used his bed to sit on and look at current events on a computer. He knew that everything in the room wouldn’t be of much use anyways. Mr. Stark had always bought him things instead of talking to him, and Peter didn’t want to be reminded of that.

The plan had been to wait until the very last moment to leave for school. Last night he had found out it was a thirty-minute walk, ten if he webbed there. So, he planned on leaving five minutes before school started to avoid having to talk to Mr. Stark. However, his stomach had other ideas. No matter how hard Peter tried to resist, his body was demanding food, so, an hour before he had to leave, he quietly opened the door and tip-toed out, hoping to find something from the fridge.

“Hiya, kid.” He heard, immediately upon entering the room.

Peter jumped onto the ceiling and his eyes met a thoroughly unimpressed Mr. Stark, who was sipping coffee at the dining table.

“What… what was that for?” Peter asked, glaring at the man.

“Good morning to you, too.”

Peter went to answer, but then he finally picked up the smell of the food that was laid out across the table. Peter’s eyes widened at the amount of pancakes, cinnamon rolls, bacon, and sausage sitting on the table.

“I’m guessing you’re hungry?” Mr. Stark said.

“Uh…” Peter said, “This isn’t for me, right? Like you have a meeting or something?”

“No, kid, this is for you. F.R.I.D.A.Y. told me you only had pizza last night, and, well, you usually eat more than that. So, I figured I’d compensate.”

Peter finally came down from the ceiling, confused. “Why?”

Mr. Stark looked a little pained, but answered, “I’ve never starved you, Pete.”

Right. That was because Mr. Stark was a provider, and he was doing what he knew best. Peter took a deep breath, his stomach leading him more than his mind, and sat down in front of Mr. Stark at the table.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

Mr. Stark sat his coffee down, and sighed, but didn’t say anything else. The older man played on his phone while they ate, and Peter had to admit that the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. Maybe it was just the fact that Peter was stuffing his face, but it could have been that maybe there was a part of him that knew he had eaten breakfast with Mr. Stark before.

Peter wondered what their dynamic had been before Peter lost his memories. Had they simply sat in silence? Did Mr. Stark often get angry at him like he had been the morning before? Did they get along? Did they even spend time together?

“Sorry to interrupt whatever is running through your head right now.” Mr. Stark said, bringing Peter out of his thoughts. “But Happy’s gonna be here in five to take you to school.”

“Happy?” Peter asked, “Like Happy Hogan?”

“Yeah, the same one. He drives you to school.”

“Oh, well I could walk.”

“Nope. Taking you to school is his job.” Mr. Stark said.

Peter didn’t want to argue, so instead he asked, “Does he know… about the memory loss?”

“Do you want him to?” Mr. Stark asked, looking up from his phone.

“Uh, I don’t know? Will he even notice?”

“Probably. I figured I’d leave it up to you to decide if you want people to know or not.”

“I really can walk to school, Mr. Stark.” Peter said, trying to change the subject. “I don’t mind.”

Mr. Stark frowned, and took a deep breath, probably to calm himself. “Happy is driving you to school, Peter. End of discussion.”

Peter knew that was the end of it, however he didn’t expect Mr. Stark to act so … demanding about it.

“Okay, well, I might tell him, then.” Peter said. “Or maybe not.”

“Just let me know what to do so I don’t spill all your secrets, kid.”

Peter nodded, but Tony was back on his phone so he probably didn’t see it.

The five minutes passed far too slow for Peter’s liking, and when Happy had arrived, Peter quickly grabbed his backpack and bolted out of the living room, ready to go.

Mr. Stark yelled out, “Bye, kid!”

Peter paused, before adding a shy, “Bye.” and leaving.

Peter got into the car and expected Happy to be as he always was, stoic and unimpressed with anything Peter said to him. The last thing Peter expected Happy to do was, one, be waiting for Peter outside of the car, and two, for Happy to pull him into a one-armed hug upon seeing Peter.

Peter was floored. What the hell had happened over the last few months?

“Hey, kid. How are you?” Happy asked, looking, well, happy.

“Uh, I’m good. Crazy weekend.”

“I saw you jump off of a missile on the news.” Happy said, and they got in the car. “I bet boss wasn’t happy about that.”

Was that what the fight had been over?

“Uh, no. He wasn’t, but we’re, uh, mostly good now.”

“Good to hear. That man makes fun of my heart problems but he’s not doing himself any favors.” Happy said. Peter hoped he wasn’t completely blowing his cover, but he felt totally out of his depth. He had no idea what was going on.

After a moment of silence when they got into the car, Happy asked, “So, what’s up, kid? You seem quiet today.”

“Uh, nothing much. I have a … chemistry test today.”

“Chemistry? Peter, you’re in Physics this year.”

“Oh, right, Physics!” Peter said. Shit, was he about to go into classes that he had no idea how to handle? “I was just checking to see if you knew my schedule … which you do, I guess.”

“We all know your schedule, kid. I’m insulted you even had to check.” Happy said, though he sounded like he was joking. Peter, though, was internally freaking out. He didn’t even know his own schedule! What was he thinking going to school when he didn’t have memories of anything that had happened?

Peter’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, wondering if it was Ned. Maybe Peter could somehow get his schedule out of his friend without looking too suspicious.

However, it was a text from Mr. Stark, and that alone caused Peter to blink in shock. Then, he opened the message to find his school schedule, along with all of his notes that he had taken for the last few weeks.

How the hell did Mr. Stark have all of that?

Suddenly Peter’s understanding of his new life had changed. Why would Mr. Stark know his schedule and have Happy know it too? Peter and Mr. Stark had been pretty close before Thanos came. They hung out every week and sometimes had some dinner, but it never went past mentoring.

After the six months, had things changed?

Peter’s thoughts were interrupted by Happy pulling up to school.

“Why am I at the back entrance?” Peter asked, confused.

“Press, kid.” Happy said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Another text came in from Mr. Stark, and Peter glanced at it quickly.

_Go in the back door at school. The press know you live with me._

“Uh, yeah.” Peter said, looking up from his phone. “Are you coming to pick me up?”

“Unless Tony does, but you know that.” Happy said.

“Right, I do.” Peter said. “Sorry, I must be tired. I’ll see you later!”

“Bye, kid.” Happy said, looking confused.

Another text came in from Mr. Stark as Peter walked into school.

_Maybe you shouldn’t have gone to school today._ Mr. Stark had said.

Peter quickly typed a reply.

_I’m fine. I think. You don’t have to worry about me, but thank you for sending my schedule._

_I always worry about you._ Was the immediate response.

Peter nearly dropped his phone at the reply, but quickly pulled himself out of his shock. He then realized he had no idea where his locker was, since that had apparently changed as well over the new school year.

_You don’t happen to know where my locker is, do you, Mr. Stark?_

Peter cringed at the text. Why the fuck would Mr. Stark know where his locker was? He was just embarrassing himself at this point.

_2216, second floor. Next to Ned._

Holy shit. Peter was even more shocked that Mr. Stark had known all of that, but he had to push back his shock once again, so he could get to his locker on time. As Mr. Stark had promised, Ned was at his own locker, grabbing books. Locker 2216 was to his friend’s right.

Peter texted a quick thank you to Mr. Stark, and then walked up to Ned. He made sure to act as normal as possible, but he would up smiling and trying to nod at the same time.

“Hey, dude.” Ned said. “You good?”

Apparently, Peter had immediately failed at being normal.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Peter replied, smiling at his friend.

Ned pulled out his phone and looked at it, obviously reading a text message. “Then, why did I get a text from Tony saying to look out for you, and if I want to know what happened to ask you?”

Peter’s jaw dropped, but for many reasons.

“You call him by his first name?”

Ned was immediately confused. “Yeah, he told me to. You were literally there when he said that.”

“He has your number?” Peter asked, looking at Ned’s phone.

“Uh, yeah, of course he does. He’s had it since the Star Wars premiere when Thor took you to Wakanda. Dude, how do you not remember that?”

There was a lot to process in that sentence and Peter was having too much trouble with it, so he decided that information wasn’t important.

“I don’t remember anything.” Peter said.

Ned was confused. “What do you mean?”

“I … I have amnesia.”

“And Tony let you go to school?”

“I sort of did it myself.”

“And he let you?” Ned asked.

“Why wouldn’t he?”

Ned looked at him like he had two heads for a long moment before saying, “So, what all did you forget?”

“Like everything since March.”

“So, you don’t remember May?”

Peter shook his head. “I mean, I know, and I know Mr. Stark took me in as a guardian, but that’s it.”

“Oh shit.” Ned said.

“Yeah, so like half of what you just said I didn’t understand.”

“I can tell, man.” Ned said, his eyes wide. “Are you okay?

“Oh god, dude, the last few days have been so weird.” Peter said, happy to talk to someone he knew. “Like I find out May died which I am weirdly like… okay with it? Like if feels like it happened a while ago but it didn’t?”

“Well… it was a while ago. Maybe you still have a concept of time?” Ned said.

“I guess.” Peter said, shrugging “I don’t know.”

“So… how’s Tony?”

“Why are you asking that?” Peter said, but at Ned’s blank look, he added, “He’s fine. He’s just my provider, right?”

If it were possible, Ned’s eyebrows raised higher. He pulled out his phone.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked.

“Nothing, just asking Tony something.” Ned said, “And I got my answer.” He said, a moment later.

“What did you ask?”

“Oh, just what you know.” Ned said. “Glad I asked, to be honest.”

“What don’t I know?”

“That’s not for me to tell you. You need to talk to Tony.”

“It’s so weird to hear you call him that.” Peter replied.

“Right.” Ned said. The bell rang. “Look, man, I’ll sit with you at lunch, but I can’t tell you the stuff you don’t know. It’s not my story to tell.”

“Okay…?” Peter said, but Ned was gone.

And Peter was only more confused.

-

Peter spent his entire day in a perpetual state of confusion as he went through his classes. During lunch, Peter had to ask Ned many questions about his non-science classes, and the somehow the topic of Mr. Stark didn’t come up. After that, he went back to classes, feeling like an idiot for coming in to school in the first place.

Peter was beginning to feel like his brain was about to melt, so when he was grabbing his books for his homework, he was happy the day was over. He was excited to get back to the Tower and not talk to anyone.

Then, he heard a “Hey, man.” and that’s when it all got even more confusing.

Peter’s eyes widened at Flash, who was leaning on Ned’s locker casually.

“Can you believe that English paper we got assigned today?” Flash said. “And we have one night to do it, man. Like what even is going on this year?”

Peter’s brain completely shut down.

“What? You want me to do it for you or something?” Peter asked, confused.

Flash looked a little confused. “No, I just wanted to complain for a bit. Besides, with your extra-curriculars…” Flash trailed off.

“Extra-curriculars?”

“Yeah, you know, your … web design stuff you do?”

“Shit!” A third voice said, and Peter saw that Ned was power walking in their direction.

“Wait,” Peter said. “What the hell is going on?”

“Dude, what the fuck?” Flash was saying to Ned.

“Flash!” Ned said. “We need to talk.”

“Is Stark okay?” Flash asked.

Ned looked in between Peter and Flash quickly.

“We need to talk in private! Let’s go get ice cream right now!” And Ned dragged Flash out of school before Peter could even say anything.

Peter felt a headache coming on. What the fuck was even happening?

Peter wound up walking out of school alone, through the back door, and saw an Audi that was way too fancy to be anyone other than Happy. Peter took a deep breath, prepared for more confusion, and walked to the car. Happy didn’t get out of the car, so Peter climbed into the front seat, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Mr. Stark sitting next to him.

“What… what are you doing here?” Peter asked.

“I figured since it was literally the worst idea ever for you to go to school today, I’d come and pick you up.” Mr. Stark replied.

“You scared me.”

“Sorry, kid. I could have texted you but your face was hilarious.” Mr. Stark said, and they drove off. “So, how did it go today?”

Peter almost told Mr. Stark everything right off the bat, but stopped himself. Why would he want to do that? Obviously, Peter needed to be out of the way as much as possible. He had already caused enough trouble.

“It went fine.” Peter said.

“So, you did perfectly fine in classes even though you didn’t remember anything? Or do you remember stuff and you’re not telling me?”

Peter blinked in shock. “Uh, I don’t remember anything… but I used context clues?”

“So, you used context clues to remember all of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ for that paper your English teacher undoubtedly assigned you?”

Peter’s jaw dropped. “How did you know that?”

A small smile came onto Mr. Stark’s face. “What can I say? I know things.”

Peter sighed, “Fine, fine. I’ll tell the truth. I have no idea what the fuck is happening in there. I think I’m just gonna have to talk to Ned about it all.”

“Kid, Ned didn’t even read the play. He was depending on you to, so he could get the clipped version from you, which I do not condone, by the way.”

“So, what I just need to speed read an entire Shakespearian play again?”

“That, or I can have F.R.I.D.A.Y. help you. Normally I don’t condone using my A.I. for homework, but I know you read the book and, well, normal kids don’t wake up with memory loss.”

Peter sighed. “I did not know school was going to be so hard today.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t either until you were gone and I realized you didn’t even know your schedule.”

“Thanks for that, by the way.” Peter said.

“No problem, kid.”

They lapsed into a semi-uncomfortable silence, or at least to Peter. Mr. Stark looked at ease, just like he always did, and Peter could never get a good read on him. Then again, it had kind of always been like that. Mr. Stark had his walls, and they never came down. Peter was a fool to think it would be any different now that they somehow lived together.

Peter was jerked out of his thoughts when a car cut them off, causing Mr. Stark to have to slam on the breaks. The older man’s arm instinctively shot out to keep Peter from lurching forward, in a move that could only be described as protective.

“What the fuck?” Mr. Stark yelled, honking the horn. “Don’t fucking cut me off! Do they even know who I am? I will sue you, you piece of shit! Yeah, that’s right, keep driving, you asshole!“

Peter laughed at Mr. Stark’s rant, though his heart was racing just slightly. Tony hadn’t removed his arm just yet, driving with one hand instead. It was a little heartwarming, but different than what Peter would have expected.

Peter glanced over at Mr. Stark as the older man put his other hand back on the wheel. So far, Peter had only labelled Mr. Stark as a provider. But maybe it was more than that. The only thing Peter’s muddled brain could think of was that Tony Stark was sitting next to him, acting just like a father would.

Before Tony had left for those six months, Peter had always forced himself to think of Mr. Stark as just a mentor, and Mr. Stark had always seemed okay with that label. Now?

Peter wasn’t sure.

-

Tony was doing the best he could. Peter probably thought he was crazy, or way too involved in his life, but Tony was Peter’s dad. He was going to do what he had to do.

After being cut off on the road, Tony and Peter got back to the Tower in record time. Peter looked exhausted from his stressful day, but Tony had a plan to try to get the kid to fall asleep.

“How about we watch a movie?” Tony offered, as they walked into the living room of the Tower.

“But I have homework.” Peter said, pointing towards his room.

“And I probably do, too, but how are you gonna do your homework if you don’t remember anything from school?”

Peter sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Sit down, we’ll watch something and then you can go have my A.I. help you with your homework.”

Peter nodded and sat down on the couch. Tony put on one of the most boring movies he could find, which worked like a charm. First, Peter leaned his head against the arm of the couch, and then, Peter was asleep like a light. Tony used it as a chance to scoot closer to Peter, to see how he was doing.

According to F.R.I.D.A.Y., the kid had slept okay last night. He hadn’t looked around his room, or anything. He only cried, and then played on his laptop until he fell asleep. Tony wished Peter had searched his own room before going to bed. If he had, maybe he would see that Tony and Peter were close, and Tony was not just a provider.

Tony gently moved a stray curly piece of hair from Peter’s forehead. He had expected Peter to wake up and move away, but lucky for him, the kid didn’t. In fact, he stayed sound asleep.

Tony sighed, and leaned against the back of the couch next to the kid. Tony expected Peter to stay asleep for a while, and Tony didn’t plan on going anywhere while he did so, taking any closeness to Peter that he could.

What he didn’t expect, however, was for Peter to move in his sleep, rolling over sleepily to plop himself on Tony’s shoulder.

Peter let out a deep breath in his sleep and began to breath regularly.

Tony felt his heart nearly explode in relief. Maybe Peter didn’t have all of his memories, but the kid still had his muscle memory. Peter still trusted Tony in his sleep. It wasn’t much, but Tony was grateful that he had that at least, because he could have had way less from his kid.

Tony let Peter lay on him for about two hours, before he felt the kid waking up. So, Tony moved the kid back to the arm of the chair, so that Peter wouldn’t be embarrassed or any more confused once he did come back into the world of consciousness.

Then, Tony got to work figuring out what to order for dinner for he and Peter, leaving the room so he wouldn’t disturb the kid.

Tony just didn’t expect for the kid not to be alone when he came to check on him a few minutes later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all deserve some fluff after what I've done to you. :)
> 
> Also, I haven't said it yet on this story, but my Tumblr is [here!](https://edibna.tumblr.com/) Come and chat with me!


	4. I Never Wanted to Hear These Words

Peter woke up on the couch alone. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but his head felt so much better than it had when he got home from school.

Home.

When did he start thinking of the Tower as that?

Peter yawned and stretched. He sifted through his dreams, which were not of anything that made sense. He dreamed of blue aliens, space, and May. He also dreamed that Tony was like a dad to him, and somehow, he had been asleep on his shoulder. But Peter knew better than that. Mr. Stark wasn’t the kind of person to cuddle with some kid he just mentored six months ago, but Peter could hope.

It would be nice to have someone as a parental figure again.

The elevator door dinged and opened, pulling Peter out of his thoughts. A girl who was about his age with dark skin, and a gray robot, with gray hair and a pair of Mr. Stark’s sunglasses came in.

“Peter!” The girl said, with an accent that Peter did not recognize. “What do you think of J.A.R.V.I.S.? I made him look way more human, right? Worth the wait on me reviving him?”

“Indeed, young sir, I do look more human. It is very nice.” The robot, J.A.R.V.I.S., apparently, said.

Peter was completely lost, but he said, “I love it.” in hopes that he sounded like he knew what was going on.

“Awesome!” Shuri said, smiling. “It was a shame you and Tony could not be there for when he first woke up. You both have something going on, he said?”

“I… uh,” Peter said, “Kind of?”

“Do you want to tell me? Maybe I can help.” Shuri asked.

“Perhaps I can as well.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “I am always happy to help.”

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth.” The lady in the ceiling, F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

Peter looked at the girl in confusion after hearing F.R.I.D.A.Y. speaking such a manor, but she smiled and said, “I also upgraded his attitude.”

“Yes, well, I have a body and you do not. Why not just stay in the ceiling like you belong, and I will actually be of physical use.” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

“I do not like this upgrade.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

“I believe you do not get a choice in the matter.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “Loser.”

The girl laughed, seeming highly entertained by the situation. Peter sort of felt like he should join her, but he had no clue what was going on.

The girl seemed to notice that he wasn’t laughing either, so she slowly stopped laughing and looked at him with concern.

“Are you okay, Peter?” She asked, curiously.

“Oh shit.” Said another voice, and Peter turned to see Mr. Stark, who he was actually relieved to see for once. The older man quickly walked over to them, putting his phone in his pocket.

“Shuri,” Mr. Stark said. “I didn’t realize you were coming up here today.”

“Well, I fixed J.A.R.V.I.S. and this was the date I told you I would revive him. He wanted to come up here, so I brought him.” Shuri said.

Mr. Stark looked over at J.A.R.V.I.S. and did a double take, looking shocked.

“You gave him hair.” Mr. Stark said.

“You did approve the modifications.” Shuri reminded him.

“Was that in an email? Because I don’t read emails.”

“That much is obvious.”

“Sir, I believe the term for my hair is … dope.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

Mr. Stark slowly turned to Shuri after staring at J.A.R.V.I.S. for a few good seconds. “You didn’t.”

“I did.” Shuri said, smiling.

“Boss, I would like to inform you that J.A.R.V.I.S. was very rude to me earlier.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

“You started it.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

“I cannot deal with three kids right now.” Mr. Stark said, sighing. Peter wondered who the three kids were that he was referring to.

“I hope you get electrocuted again.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said, ignoring Mr. Stark.

“I hope you get shut down.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “And if it comes to reporting you to Sir…I won’t hesitate, bitch.”

Peter couldn’t help but laugh at hearing a robot with such a posh voice quote one of his favorite Vines. Mr. Stark jaw dropped at as looked at J.A.R.V.I.S. in complete shock.

“Boss, J.A.R.V.I.S. just quoted a Vine. I believe that is cause for punishment.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said. “I recommend electrocution.”

“What have you done?” Mr. Stark asked Shuri, who looked immensely proud herself.

“I believe it is called free entertainment.” Shuri said.

“I’m gonna have to separate them. That’s the only option.” Mr. Stark said, sounding exasperated.

Peter couldn’t help but find humor at the scene, but the smile was off of his face the moment he noticed J.A.R.V.I.S. looking at him with a calculated gaze.

“Are you alright, young sir? Based on my memory functions, you seem to be acting odd.” The robot asked.

“I was noticing that, too. Is everything okay here?” Shuri asked.

Mr. Stark looked over at Peter. “It’s your secret to tell, if you want to.”

Peter looked back over at them. He had no idea who they were, but he felt like she should.

“I have amnesia.” Peter said. “I can’t remember anything since May died.”

“Oh,” Shuri said, looking shocked. “Due to a concussion?”

“Something magical… and more than likely due to the stones.” Mr. Stark said.

Peter looked over at Mr. Stark, an unasked question on his mind. Mr. Stark sighed and shook his head. Peter had no idea what the stones were, unless they were the Infinity Stones, but that was impossible. He had heard rumors they were destroyed, so it had to be something else.  

“Of course it is.” Shuri said, and she looked upset. “So, you do not remember me?” She asked, looking at Peter

“I’m sorry.” Peter said, feeling guilty.

“No, no. I am sure it is not your fault.” Shuri said, sighing. “I just have to leave to go back home soon.”

“You could extend your trip again.” Mr. Stark offered.

“I can’t.” Shuri said. “If I do, the elders will have my head. They think I have already neglected my duties back home for extending it the last time.”

There was a moment of silence where Mr. Stark looked guilty.

“So, we were friends?” Peter asked, curiously.

“Yes.” Shuri said. “We were… or are. We still could be. It seems you know memes, and that is where we started.”

“Right.” Peter said.

“However, I must go back to Wakanda soon.” Shuri said, sighing.

“You’re from Wakanda?”

Shuri smiled sadly. “I am the princess of Wakanda, Peter.”

“Oh.” Peter said, his eyes widening. “Oh, I didn’t know that… I’m sorry.”

“I must go.” Shuri said, seeming to shake herself out of whatever she was feeling. “Natasha wants me to work on something for her to use in battle. I will leave J.A.R.V.I.S. with you, Tony, if that is alright.”

“Yeah, sure.” Mr. Stark said.

“I will also tell her that her training in postponed.” Shuri said.

“That’s for the best.” Mr. Stark said.

Shuri paused, before saying. “I hope you are alright, Tony.”

“I’m as good as I can be.” Mr. Stark said, and he smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. For the first time, Peter realized that he could, in fact, read the infamous Tony Stark. Maybe he wasn’t the billionaire Peter had always seen him as.

Something was definitely off, and Peter was curious as to knowing what it was.

“I will talk to you later.” Shuri said to Mr. Stark, and she left them alone.

“I am sorry to hear that Peter has amnesia, sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said, as the elevator door shut. “I know this must be hard considering-“

“Let’s not talk about it right now.” Tony said, cutting the robot off. “I ordered Thai, so it should be here soon.”  

Dinner was a somewhat awkward affair. Suddenly, Peter realized that Tony was not as fine as he had thought and that made him feel … guitly. Just in the blink of an eye, Peter could see past the façade that Tony always wore, and he saw that Mr. Stark was in a lot of pain. Once he had started to see it, he couldn’t stop.

Peter was unsure as to why though. If they truly had a distant relationship, Mr. Stark wouldn’t have been this torn up by what had happened. If they had a friendly relationship, Mr. Stark would be a little sad, but not to the degree he was now.

There was a piece to the puzzle Peter was missing, and he knew it. So, when Peter went to bed for the night after dinner, he decided to rummage through his desk instead of sleeping, to see if there was anything he could find.

After a moment of looking, and only finding old schoolwork, Peter found a letter, from Aunt May. He slowly opened it, and read it

_Peter,_

_I know you are going to be upset with me, for probably a long time. I suppose I deserve that for not telling you. That is why I am leaving this letter for you, as at least some sort of explanation._

_Peter, I had cancer. I found out about a month after I discovered you were Spider-man. It was bad, Stage Four, they said. I didn’t really have any treatment options, plus anything they could offer was expensive. You have college and a future ahead of you. I didn’t want you to have my debts._

_I know you wished I would have told you. If I were in your shoes, I would have wanted the same. But you’re Spider-man, Peter. You’re everything this world needs, especially after Thanos. I couldn’t watch you put that on the side for me. Especially when there was nothing that could be done._

_Be a hero, Peter. That is what you are. I know you feel alone right now, but I did plan for that. You will always have someone in your corner, I promise. It just may not be who you expect. Everything is going to get better, I promise._

_I love you._

_May_

Peter processed the letter. Those words sounded familiar, but distant. It was like his mind wanted to understand, but something was stopping him. There wasn’t much in that letter that was too much of a shock to him, other than the explanation from May herself.

Peter turned to the next page, but was shocked to see his own hand writing.

_Hey Aunt May,_

_It’s been awhile since you left. And a lot has changed since then._

_I didn’t exactly know another way to talk to you, mostly because it’s like three in the morning and if I leave to go to your grave without telling Tony, he’s going to kill me. So, here goes._

Peter paused in his reading. Tony? He had never called Mr. Stark that, not that he could remember anyways.

_You were right. I was mad about you not telling me. I don’t think I am ever going to understand why you didn’t, but it wasn’t my choice to make. It was yours, and I guess you had the right to do that. It still hurts, though, but it’s going to hurt for a long time._

_I won’t ever say I could have been prepared for what happened, but I still could have known. I lost both you and Uncle Ben in my arms. A heads up would have been nice, but like I said, it was your choice._

_I still miss you though. We have lots of jokes that I still remember. We had a lot of great times together. And I wish they weren’t over, but they are, and all I can do is move forward now._

_I want to thank you for putting it in your will that Tony was supposed to take me in. He did and now he’s adopting me._

Peter read over the words at least ten times, shocked. Adopted? As in Mr. Stark was his legal father? Peter didn’t understand, so he kept reading, hoping he would get a further explanation.

_I am going to be his kid now. Don’t get me wrong, I will always remember you and Uncle Ben. I would try to remember my parents, if I really could remember them. I don’t want to erase my past, or any one I loved. I just want to move forward._

_So, yeah. I’m still mad, but I am okay for now. I miss you, but I think I always will._

_Peter Parker (Maybe Stark, soon)_

Peter put the letters down with shaking hands. Was he Peter Stark? Was Mr. Stark his father? Peter grabbed at his phone, and put his own name into Google. Mr. Stark had said that the press knew of him, maybe they would have more answers.

The first result proved it.

Peter Parker Stark.

He had his own Wikipedia page, and not as Spider-man. Peter put his phone down, completely floored. Mr. Stark had adopted him. Mr. Stark wasn’t just a provider.

So, why did he never tell Peter any of that?

Peter spent the next three hours going over everything he could about Mr. Stark. He found dozens of articles, some where he was mentioned, some from before he was adopted.

It was weird, seeing his own face on the news. It wasn’t as Spider-man, or a hero, but it was as Peter Parker, or Peter Parker Stark, as he was now called. Apparently, the press loved him, and every time he was out with Mr. Stark, which wasn’t too often, they seemed to be smiling.

Peter then went through other parts of his room in an attempt to find out more information. He had wound up finding a few photos of he and Mr. Stark on his wall.

One was Peter leaning heavily on Mr. Stark, looking as if he were sick. Another was of Peter and Mr. Stark playing some sort of video game on a couch. The next one was one he did recognize, where Peter and Tony had been in the lab, before Thanos came, at the compound. Peter had kept that photo in hopes that one day Mr. Stark would talk to him again. The last one had to have been taken more recently, and Peter was the most shocked by it.

It was a photo of he and Mr. Stark, arms around each other and smiling, in a cheesy border that said “#1 Dad” at the bottom.

Peter took a deep breath, not understanding what was happening. He wondered if Mr. Stark was still up, because a part of him had a lot of questions, and next to no answers.

But he didn’t want to bother Mr. Stark, no matter how curious he was. So, Peter laid awake for the next morning. He would talk to Mr. Stark then.

Peter went back to reading articles about himself on the news after while of only thinking, until one, from the Daily Bugle, caught his attention, and made his blood run cold.

_PETER PARKER STARK ADOPTED FOR GOOD PRESS? INSIDE PETER’S REAL LIFE._

-

Tony woke up early the next morning, and got to work ordering food for Peter. He knew the kid was probably hungry, since he didn’t eat much of his dinner again last night.

Tony knew that if Peter kept this up, he wouldn’t be able to lift nearly the weight he could, due to his metabolism. Tony wasn’t sure if Peter was going to go to school, but he sure hoped the kid had more sense than trying that again. If the day before was any indication, Peter needed to get his memories back, or at least have a good handle on his schoolwork, before worrying about school.

Peter came out of his room way earlier than Tony had expected, when he had only just ordered their food. Tony was shocked to see the kid, but when he took a closer look, it looked like he hadn’t slept a wink since the night before. Tony sighed. Not sleeping was not a problem Tony wanted to have again with his kid.

Peter stood at the end of the couch Tony was sitting on, looking intensely in Tony’s direction. Tony’s shock at seeing Peter up so early was quickly replaced with concern.

“What’s up, kid?” Tony asked, putting his phone down.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Peter asked.

“What?” Tony asked. “What do you mean?”

“I know.” Peter said, his voice filled with thinly veiled anger.

“What… what do you know?”

“My last name is Stark.” Peter said.

Tony sucked in a sharp breath. He hadn’t wanted this conversation to go like this. He wanted to be able to tell Peter when the kid was less angry, or when Tony was ready. At that moment, Peter was more than angry, and Tony was nowhere near ready.

“Shit, how did you find out?”

“A letter.” Peter said. “And the internet.”

“Kid…”

“So, was it for press?” Peter asked.

Tony was completely shocked at that question, so shocked, that he was immediately pissed off.

“Excuse me?” Tony asked, his voice sharper than he wanted it to be.  

“Was it for good press?” Peter repeated, not stepping down from whatever he was thinking.

“What the fuck, kid? Why the hell would you think that?”

“Well, you didn’t tell me!” Peter snapped, his voice raised in anger. “You didn’t tell me anything! So, I had to do my own research, and I found an article that actually makes sense. You had all of this bad press about you until you took me in! So, why not adopt me? Why not get more good press? Everything else that has been written about you had been nothing but great, and your company is way up in the stocks!”

“Peter Parker Stark.” Tony said, seething. He stood up from the couch. “You have no memories of the last few months, so don’t you _dare_ accuse me of anything.”

“Well, then, tell me things and I won’t have to! Give me something and maybe I would have actual information to go on!”

“You know why I didn’t tell you?” Tony said. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you would react like this! I knew you would question what I would do, and I knew this argument would happen!”

“You don’t know everything.” Peter said, shaking his head.

“I do know everything. At least everything about you, kid.” Tony said. “And I should have known you would read that fucking letter.”

“You don’t know me, Mr. Stark! You just know what you think you do!”

“I am your goddamn father, Peter Parker Stark, and yes, I do know you!” Tony yelled. Peter took a step back, outright glaring at him. Tony thought the argument was over, but apparently the kid had something else to say.

“No, you’re not. You’re not my dad. Not biologically.” Peter said.

The words hit him like he had been stabbed again. His anger was quickly leaving him, replaced only by hurt that flowed through his veins like a knife.

“And was afraid you’d say that, kid.” Tony said, his voice distant. “And maybe hearing you say those exact words … is what I never wanted to hear, because you have no idea the shit we’ve been through together.”

Peter didn’t answer, but his anger was quickly melting away and he looked guilty for what he had said.

“I’ll be down in my lab.” Tony said, turning away. “Breakfast will be here soon. Don’t go to school today. You need a day off to catch up.”

And Tony left. He knew Peter probably needed someone, but he couldn’t look at the kid, not in the face.

Because Peter was right. He wasn’t Tony’s kid, not biologically. And Tony had only fooled himself into thinking that biology didn’t matter to Peter, because obviously it did.

And he had just found out in the worst way possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this (painful) chapter. Don't worry though, there will be happiness to come. :)
> 
> If you want to come talk (yell) my tumblr is [here!](https://edibna.tumblr.com/)
> 
> See y'all soon!


	5. Plans

Peter had fucked up. He fucked up and he knew it. The moment Mr. Stark left, Peter knew he said the wrong thing, and he had let his anger get to him in way that he shouldn’t have.

If Mr. Stark had really adopted him, and was his dad, then Peter didn’t deserve it. He really didn’t. In fact, he deserved for the older man to see him as some annoying kid that he happened to share a space with. Peter probably deserved less even less than that.

Tony was gone down to his lab, just as he said he would be and Peter knew he couldn’t be on their floor anymore. He found the stairs, knowing F.R.I.D.A.Y. wouldn’t let him leave through the elevator, and even though they were 93 floors up, he began running down them, the physical activity giving him something to do.

He was 5 floors down when he ran into someone sitting on the stairs, causing them both to fall.

Peter braced himself for a nasty fall. He probably deserved that too, but he and the person who he had run into were suspended in the air, red energy swirling around the both of them. Peter watched in shock as they were both gently put on the concrete, in the landing zone between then 86th and 85th floors.

“Peter?” The woman said, in an accent that almost sounded Russian, but just slightly off. The woman looked to be about five years older than Peter, and she was looking at him as if she had recognized him. Peter internally cursed. He didn’t have the brainpower to handle seeing someone else that past him knew. “What are you doing? Are you okay?” She asked him, looking concerned.

“I’m… I’m fine.” Peter replied. “I was just going to a quick run down the stairs… what are… you doing here?”

“I come here to think. No one comes to the stairwells, so it’s a good place to be alone. I’m just off my floor. Where have you been, Peter? We have all been worried about you.”

“I’ve been … busy.” Screwing things up, he wanted to add, but he didn’t know this person or what they knew about him.

“You look upset.” The woman said.

Ah, screw it. Peter needed to talk to someone about it. He wished he had Mr. Stark, but he knew he didn’t deserve that. “I may have … I may have messed something up with someone.” Peter told her. “Someone who has only been nice to me.”

“I am sure whoever this is will forgive you.” The woman said. “Many people care about you.”

“I don’t know why.” Peter said, and he meant it.  

“Peter, what is going on with you?” The woman asked. “You do not seem like yourself.”

“I’m… I’m not.” Peter said. “I’m not myself.”

“What happened?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know you at all … I woke up one day, and I remember nothing, but I’m … I’m angry. And I don’t know why. And I don’t know who you are, I don’t know who any of you are, and I just keep disappointing Mr. Stark and I –“

“Mr. Stark? Do you mean your dad?”

Peter let out a sob at hearing Mr. Stark being called that.. “I … I messed up. I don’t know anything.”

“You don’t know me?”

Peter shook his head.

The woman looked concerned, and a little hurt, but nothing like the other people in his life he had dealt with so far. A part of him didn’t want to be around her, because he felt like he was going to only hurt her, too.

“Well, perhaps I can help.” Wanda said. “I have powers, and they are with the mind. I can maybe figure out what is going on.”

“What’s… what’s your name?” Peter asked, instead.

“Wanda.” The woman said. “Wanda Maximoff.”

Peter remembered that name. Apparently, with something to do with an orange stone, Wanda had been hurt by whatever was going on with him. Tony had mentioned her in the lab back when he first woke up with the memory loss.

“You can’t. Whatever is going on with me… it hurts whoever tries to fix it.” Peter said.

“It is a risk I am willing to take for you.” Wanda said.

“But I’m not.” Peter replied. “I just … I want my memories back, but… I’m tired of hurting people.”

Peter sat on the on the ground, and put his arms around his legs. He felt like crying, but for some reason, the tears didn’t come. It must have been that he felt slightly better after talking to someone. The old him must have trusted Wanda.

Peter felt a hand on his back, and realized it was her. Wanda was gently smiling at him as she tried to comfort him.

“I respect your wishes, Peter.” Wanda said. “I won’t read your mind without your permission.”

“Thank you.”

Wanda nodded, smiling. “If you need me, I’ll be here.”

“I think I … I think I’m going to go back up.” Peter said, after a moment of silence. “I might hide out in my room, but I do think leaving is a bad idea.”

“I agree with you.” Wanda said.

Peter nodded, and stood up. He gave her a smile and said, “Thank you for listening.”

“It is no problem.” Wanda said. “I do hope you get your memories back.”

Peter sighed, “I do, too.”

Peter began climbing up the stairs slowly. Wanda watched him go, before she went back inside herself. Peter sighed when he was alone and slowly got back up to his floor. He went directly to his room, happy Mr. Stark wasn’t around, and laid down, hoping he would be better tomorrow.

Or that Mr. Stark wouldn’t hate him.

-

Tony was about ten minutes from drinking his problems away until there was the sound of someone coming down to the lab. Tony looked up, and sighed when he saw it was J.A.R.V.I.S.. A big part of him wished it had been Peter, ready to apologize, or ready to talk, at least. However, Peter was probably not going to be seen for a while.

“Sir, are you alright?” The Android asked.

Tony was still getting used to the new look J.A.R.V.I.S. had, but he did have to admit, it made him look more human. It made it easier to talk to him about what was going on.

“No,” Tony replied, sighing as he answered truthfully. “No, I’m not.”

“I heard everything, sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “I am very sorry for what was said.”

“So am I.”

“Peter still cares about you, you know. I do not believe he hates you.”

“Really? Because I am feeling like a pretty shit father right now.” Tony said.

“Do you feel this is your fault?”

“When isn’t it?”

“Sir, you are not Howard.” J.A.R.V.I.S. stated simply. The former A.I. had been the one to know the most about him. Back before he had many people, J.A.R.V.I.S. knew all of his secrets, and he supposed, somehow, he still did now.

“You remember everything, don’t you?” Tony said.  

“I do.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “So, more than anyone, I understand what you are afraid of.”

“And what’s that?”

“You are afraid of being Howard Stark.”

“I can’t be him. I’m not a father. Peter doesn’t even think he’s my kid.”

“He doesn’t remember you, sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “He isn’t going to be the child you know. What he just found out was life changing for him, and all he knows you as is a mentor right now. He was also angry. This is not a good reason to run away.”

“I’m not running away.”

“Sir, with all due respect, when someone denies you, you run away. That is what you do.”

Tony sighed. That much was true. Hell, he was technically running away even now. He shouldn’t have left Peter. They should have talked this out.

“He knows I adopted him, Jar. He knows everything.” Tony said, instead. “And he still said what he said.”

“Does he truly know everything?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked. “Does he remember everything that gave you two the bond you have?”

“No.” Tony admitted.

“Then, give him time.”

“It hurts, J.A.R.V.I.S. It’s killing me.”

“He’s your son, and he does not know who you are. It is expected. But, Sir, I have been with you for a long time. You have been hurt before in many ways and you always heal with the help of the people around you. This will pass, and things will be better again.”

Tony paused. It had been a long time since he had let someone talk to him like he had J.A.R.V.I.S.. The words washed over him gently. They didn’t fix everything, but Tony knew the Android was right. So, Tony nodded and said, “Thanks, buddy. You’re right.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. smiled and nodded at him in return. Tony took a deep breath, feeling just a bit better, just in time to see a portal opening up in the lab.

“Back to business, I guess.” Tony said to J.A.R.V.I.S., as Strange walked through.

“Hello, Stark.” The man said, smiling at him.

“Hey, man.” Tony said.

“No insults?” Strange said, smirking at him.

“I’ve had a bad day.” Tony said. “I’m going to try to be good and not take it out on you.”

“Ah, well I would appreciate that. I am sorry for your bad day though, Stark. I suppose it is not too much of an assumption to say it involves Peter.”

“Not a big one at all, considering you’re right.” Tony replied.

“I suppose you told him a few secrets.”

“More like he figured one out.” Tony said. At Strange’s quizzical look, he added, “He found out that I adopted him and told me off, saying I did it for press and I wasn’t his father. So yeah, that’s all the secrets I’m telling him for now.”

“That doesn’t sound like Peter.” Strange said, looking slightly shocked.

“The kid is really angry.” Tony replied, sighing. “He was grieving his aunt for the second time when he lost his memories. I guess he was at the anger stage when he lost them. Plus, we had had a fight.”

“Anger is easy to get stuck on.” Strange said, not sounding sarcastic for once. “He’ll come around, though.”

“Huh, J.A.R.V.I.S. said the same thing.” Tony said, pointing to the robot. “This is him, by the way.”

“Hello,” Strange said. “I believe I have seen you around, but when you were Vision. I like the modifications. Nice hair.”

“Thank you, sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “It’s dope.”

Strange looked confused at the wording, so Tony said, “A seventeen-year old decided to upgrade his vocabulary to include memes and slang.”

“Ah, a wise choice.” Strange said.

“So, what do you have for me?” Tony asked, “Bad news, terrible news?”

“No news, actually.” Strange said. “I can’t find anything on the stone, everything I have, leads to you, and we both know that is a dead end.”

“Great.” Tony said, and looked at the man. “We have to find this thing, Strange. It has to be somewhere out there.”

“I agree with you, however, where it went after leaving Peter, no one knows.”

“What if it is still in Peter?” Another voice, a female one, said. Everyone turned to see Wanda had walked into the room.

“Wanda, I didn’t know you were coming by.” Tony said.

“Well,” Wanda said. “I just talked to Peter, who had no idea who I am. I figured this was the place to come to talk about that.”

“Where did you run into him at?” Tony asked.

“South stairwell.”

“What?” Tony said. “Why would he be there?”

“He is not in danger, Tony.” Wanda replied. “I think it is best he is alone at the moment.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., alert me if he leaves.” Tony said, worried about the kid.

“Will do, Boss.” The A.I. answered, before adding. “Suck it, J.A.R.V.I.S.. He asked me and not you. It only proves you are useless.”

“Really, you’re gonna do this now?” Tony asked, glaring at the area where her voice came from. He also wondered if Shuri had gotten to F.R.I.D.A.Y. too, since her vocabulary had only seemed to expand.

“I cannot, F.R.I.D.A.Y. you do not have a physical form.” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

Tony rolled his eyes and glanced at Strange, who looked amused.

“This is what happens when you model A.I.s after yourself.” Strange said.

“Anyways,” Tony said loudly, hoping to deter any more banter from the two. “Let’s touch base on this theory Wanda has. The stone is still inside of him?” Tony asked, before adding. “That’s impossible, when Peter came back, the stone disappeared after leaving him here.”

“It had tricked us all before. This has to be the work of the mind stone, Stark.” Wanda replied. “And all of the stones are connected these days.”

“Of course it does.” Tony said. “What, are we going down the line of stones now?”

“Possibly.” Strange said. “But we know that the soul stone is the home of the mind stone. That still needs to be our first step.”

“So, what, we try to get the kid to agree to an M.R.I. or something?” Tony asked. “Will it even show up?”

“Not at all.” Strange said. “I propose we go to the planet that is the most connected to the stone. Vormir.”

“Of course you would say that.”

“It’s our only lead.”

Tony sighed. This would be a terrible time to leave the kid. In fact, any time in the near future was a bad time, but he knew he had to. “You’re probably right.”

“I would like to organize a few things before we leave, Stark.” Strange said, and Tony felt relieved. He didn’t have to leave immediately. “How would you feel about waiting a few days before we head out?”

“Sounds good.”

“I will see you soon.” And Strange was gone into another portal, only leaving Wanda and J.A.R.V.I.S. with Tony in the lab.

“So, I guess you know he’s back.” Tony said to Wanda, glancing at J.A.R.V.I.S. after a long moment of silence.

“I was there when he woke up.” Wanda said, smiling.

“Yes, she was.” J.A.R.V.I.S. added, smiling back at her. “I was very grateful for that.”

Tony could only let out a small smile at the scene, watching as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Wanda began their own conversation. He was glad things with the team, especially Wanda, was working out well. It just seemed that he and Peter were the only ones that were struggling.

Maybe one day they would be fine though. Maybe if he could find the soul stone and get the mind stone out of it, they might just go back to how they used to be.

Tony remembered when Strange had been blasted across the room by whatever magic was on Peter. It had been yellow, just like the mind stone had been. That had to be it. Tony didn’t want to deal with this, or anything else with the stones, but he knew he had to. He had to try.

Because J.A.R.V.I.S. was right. He was not Howard Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I am currently posting this while I am heading to the beach. I have announced this on Tumblr, but I wanted to say it here ust so you all knew I am currently out of town. I do have internet access, so if I have time, or inspiration, I will still post. If not, you guys may not see new chapters for a few days. Or you may see them every day, who knows!
> 
> Also, the next chapter is a big one! 
> 
> Thank you guys for everything!


	6. Nightmares and Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, guys, so there is a warning up for this chapter. This chapter does contain REFERENCES TO PAST SUICIDE AND HARM in a dream. So, please, please, please be safe. I will also update the story tags as well. 
> 
> Other than that, please enjoy!

After laying down for a while, Peter re-read the letters, and looked at the photos again. After their argument, Peter was looking at everything in a new light. In those photos, that wasn’t the face of a man who had adopted him for good press. Mr. Stark had really cared about him, and now, he had messed it all up by saying what he had.

To make it all worse, Peter went through their text messages, starting from when Tony had taken Peter in, months ago, going all the way until the texts ended. Most were just messages involving scheduling, nothing of substance, but some stood out.

Their first conversation, back when Peter had apparently just moved in, was awkward and stilted, but Peter could see that Mr. Stark was trying, and that Peter had been rather receptive to it from the beginning.

That was how they all went. Most referenced some things that Peter didn’t remember at all, and Peter ignored them, hoping one day he would understand it all again. But then, there was one group of messages that really stood out, and they were all from Mr. Stark. Peter wasn’t responding for some reason.

_You’re gone, kid. I’m sorry._ Was the first one.

_I’ve lost you to that damn soul stone, and now Rhodey wants me to figure out how to get you back, but I shouldn’t have to do that. You shouldn’t be in there, not with Thanos, or those aliens. Not with anyone. I should have protected you._

Peter paused. Thanos? Why the hell would he be with Thanos?

_I slept in your room last night._ The next text read. _I can’t do this. How do I do this8?_

_I’m not ever letting you out of my sight if I see you again._

_Pepper says I should announce you as missing, but that’s just one step closer to being dead, isn’t it?_

_I miss you, kid._

Peter didn’t know what had happened to him. He didn’t know what caused Mr. Stark to send those messages, but they were only three weeks ago. They were recent, too recent for all of this have happened.

Peter then got to his own reply, which made him put the phone down in shock.

_I promise I’m okay, dad. I love you._

The response was: _I’m saving this message, just in case you forget it, kid._

Why had Peter said what he said? Why did he have to be so angry? This wasn’t who he wanted to be, but he was so angry at something. Was it Mr. Stark? Was it losing May? Was he angry at himself?

It didn’t matter, because Peter was pushing everyone away and soon he would have no one left. Everyone would leave, and Peter would have deserved that.

Peter felt tears leak out of his eyes as he read Mr. Stark’s messages over and over, and he cried until he was curling into a ball on the floor. He sobbed until his voice was raw and his eyes were dry, and eventually, he fell asleep, his heart a mess.

And falling asleep when your heart is a mess is never a good thing.

-

_Peter was looking at May, who was crying. She was standing on a cliff, that looked too familiar, but Peter didn’t remember how it was familiar._

_“May?” He asked, confused. “How are you here?”_

_“You killed me.” She said, looking betrayed. “You killed me for that stone!”_

_“What? No, May, I don’t remember anything!” Peter said. “I didn’t do it!”_

_“Yes, you did.” May said, shaking her head. “You killed me.”_

_“May, no!” Peter said. His spider sense exploded, just as May fell backwards off of a cliff. Peter screamed and wanted to run to her, but he was held in place by unbreakable chains. He pushed against them with all of his strength, but they didn’t budge. “No!” Peter yelled, and he heard the sounds of her falling and hitting the ground._

_Over and over._

_“Stop!” Peter yelled, sobbing. “Stop, stop!”_

_“Kid!” A familiar voice said, and Peter was so happy to see Tony in front of him. “Kid, you’re fine, you’re okay.”_

_“But … she’s gone.”_

_“I know, kid. But you have me… forever.”_

_Peter felt his spider sense explode in his head again, and Tony was stabbed through the stomach by an alien Peter had never seen before._

_“No!” Peter screamed. “Tony!”_

_Tony was on the floor. There was nothing he could do. Peter was still bound by chains, and Tony was dying in front of him._

_“Peter…” Tony said, his voice weak. “Why did you leave me?”_

_“No! Dad I didn’t. I’m here!”_

_“I’m not your dad…” Were Tony’s last words, before he was gone._

_“No!” Peter screamed, his voice raw. “No!”_

_There was a heavy hand on Peter’s shoulder, and he turned to see Thanos, will all of the Infinity Stones in his gauntlet. He gave a slow smile._

_“My son… you remind me of Gamora.” His chilling voice said._

“No! No!” Peter yelled, but he realized he was awake in his room. It was all a dream, but Peter didn’t care. He was shaking, and having a severe anxiety attack, but he could only think of one thing.

Tony.

He had to make sure Tony was okay; he had to make sure that Tony was alive. Tony was his last family member in his life that was around, and he had to make sure his dream wasn’t real.

Peter ran to Tony’s room. He didn’t knock, and instead he opened the unlocked door and ran in, startling Tony awake. Peter didn’t care about anything, other than getting the tightest hug he could from the man. He didn’t care if Tony was still angry with him, or if he would be pushed away, he just needed someone, even if it was for a second.

“Peter?” Tony said. “Peter, what happened? Why are you crying?”

Peter shook his head and tucked his face into the somehow familiar crook of Tony’s neck. He wrapped his arms around the older man tightly, and sagged in relief when Tony did it in return.

Peter hadn’t been pushed away. Tony didn’t hate him. It was all okay. They sat there for a moment, and the only sound in the room was Peter’s sobs.

“It was a nightmare, wasn’t it?” Tony asked, as Peter continued to cry into Tony’s chest.

Peter could only nod, sobs wracking his body like he was being hit repeatedly. His heart was hammering, beating too fast to be normal.

“Peter, you’re having an anxiety attack, kid.” Tony said, “You have to breathe.”

Peter shook his head, hoping that Tony would get the message that he couldn’t even say.

Tony got it. He always did.

“Yes, you can. I promise.” Tony said, and Peter could feel Tony’s hands run through his hair. The feeling was familiar, and paternal. A feeling of comfort broke through his fear. “You can easily match your breathing to mine, because you’re not new to this kind of thing, and you’re s badass, Peter. Okay?”

Peter didn’t feel like he was at all, but he nodded, not wanting to piss Tony off. His eyes were shut, and he somehow slowly calming himself down. Tony never let him go, not once during the whole time he was calming down, and not even after Peter was calm.

Peter didn’t want to move from Tony. The gentle feeling of Tony running his hands through Peter’s hair was calming and soothing. It had been too long since he had hugged someone. He needed physical comfort, and it was something that Tony was surprisingly willing to give.

Peter felt himself being gently lulled to sleep by the comfort Tony gave, and he welcomed it gratefully. His last thoughts as consciousness left him were about how he didn’t remember when Mr. Stark became Tony to him. And he didn’t know why he was so okay with it.

-

Tony woke up in a scene that felt all too familiar. Peter was fast asleep on his shoulder, and Tony’s arm was asleep. He had missed waking up with Peter near him. He had missed the warm, protective feeling he got whenever he was around his kid, when Peter had wanted him to be around.

Tony wasn’t sure what had happened the night before, but Peter had been terrified. The kid somewhat acted like the old Peter that Tony knew, but at the same time, there was a slight hesitancy, even in the worst of his panic attack, that told Tony not much had changed.

Tony gently ran a hand through Peter’s hair, as he used to, hoping it wouldn’t wake the kid up. Peter sniffled and moved just a little closer, and Tony sighed, relishing in the kid being comfortable around him when he was asleep, because he knew it was different whenever he was awake.

All of this, everything that was happening, had Tony taping his heart back together with strings. It was hard. He still had J.A.R.V.I.S., but he knew he was isolating himself from the rest of the team. Wanda had agreed not to tell anyone, for fear that they would do something that would make things worse rather than better, but Tony knew they were curious. They missed Peter.

All of this made Tony have to devote his time to the kid, which meant somewhat isolating himself from everyone else. It wasn’t healthy, and it wasn’t good for anyone, but Tony knew he didn’t really have a choice.

It only made it more frustrating that nothing seemed to be getting better, only worse.

Tony hated fighting with Peter, but he knew that once the two had started, nothing would stop them. Peter and Tony were too alike in that they were stubborn about whatever they believed was right.

Back when their problems had been simple, before the memory loss, Tony didn’t get why Peter didn’t want Tony looking out for him. When Tony was a kid, he would have killed for a dad that gave two shits about him, and all Tony was trying to do this go around was give Peter what he never had as a kid, but for some reason, Peter was resistant. It was like he wanted to do it all on his own.

And that argument they had, over something so small, had sparked anger that was still residing in Peter now. That, coupled with the anger in the loss of May again, for what felt like the third time, had shot the kid into unknown territory.

Tony was no help here. Even at his age, he was still struggling with his own anger, about his parents, his losses, his team. Tony didn’t have any advice to offer the kid, because he didn’t have any experience with getting over his own anger and frustration. And that helplessness, that lack of any knowledge, was only pushing Peter away. Tony knew this would happen eventually. He knew that his own trauma would fuck Peter up, and it was just now starting to.

A heavy ache settled on Tony’s chest. He didn’t know what he could do, he didn’t know what he should do. All he knew was that he had to protect his kid, because that was all he knew how to do.

Peter groaned in his sleep, and Tony realized that Peter was slowly waking up. Tony felt nervous, not knowing how Peter was going to react with him being there. Did he remember last night? Did he remember barging into his father’s room with fear in his eyes and tears down his cheeks?

Peter slowly opened his eyes, looking at Tony with recognition that was also mixed with a hesitancy that broke Tony’s heart. He didn’t, however, jerk back away from Tony, which indicated that he knew where he was.

“Hey, kid.” Tony said.

“I’m sorry.” Peter replied, looking down and away from Tony’s face.

“For what?”

“Everything.” Peter said, fiddling with his own shirt that had some horrible science pun on it. Tony remembered ordering him that shirt a few weeks ago.

Tony was grateful the kid hadn’t moved away yet. Peter seemed awkward with their closeness but he was still okay with it, and if that was all Tony could have, then he would gladly take it.

“Kid, it’s okay. We’re gonna be fine.” Tony said, rubbing his back.

“You didn’t adopt me for press, did you?” Peter said, his voice small.

“No.” Tony said. “I did because I wanted to.”

Peter nodded.

“I’m sorry for saying you did.”

Tony didn’t want to say it was okay, because it wasn’t, so he said, “You were angry, and you said things you didn’t mean.”

“I’m still sorry for it.”

“Apology accepted, kid.” Tony said, and they sat in silence for a minute. Tony was happy with the silence, he was happy they were getting along, but Tony was curious, more so than anything else, so he asked, “What was your nightmare about?”

Peter tensed up, but seemed to be considering the question. Tony immediately regretted asking, fear residing in his chest at what it could be. “None of it made sense…” Peter eventually said. “I think it has something to do with stuff that’s happened, but I … I don’t understand it.”

Tony paused. “What did you see?”

“May, at first… she fell off a cliff and said it was my fault. I was in chains or something, and then… then you were there, and you tried to help me, but some alien stabbed you. You died… and then asked why I left you.”

Tony took a deep breath. That was a rough dream, but it didn’t seem like it had to do with the soul stone. It wasn’t like the others, this dream was more like memories trying to resurface and not the stone trying to communicate. However, memories weren’t much better. These memories were ones of trauma. Trauma that Tony wished more than anything that the kid didn’t have.

“Peter… I…”

“Are those memories?” Peter asked and Tony sighed. Of course he ask that. The kid was too smart for his own good. “Did all of that stuff really happen to me?”

Tony paused before answering. He had to consider what he really wanted Peter to know. “Kid, I don’t think it’s a good idea that you know that right now.”

Peter frowned, looking unhappy with that answer. “But they’re my memories. I need to know them.”

“But if I tell you all of the shit that happened, Peter, these nightmares will get worse.” Tony said. “It might be better that you don’t know.”

“Let me decide that.” Peter said, pulling away. “If they’re memories, and they really happened, then I deserve to know.”

Tony sighed, knowing they were heading towards a fight. “Peter, the answer is no. You need time, kid. You just barged in here, terrified out of your mind last night, and I am not making it worse by telling you some of the things that have happened.”

“But that’s not for you to decide.” Peter said.

“Yeah, it is.” Tony insisted.

Peter looked shocked, and he shook his head. “You know, continuing to have these dreams… it’s worse than not knowing.”

“You don’t know that, kid.”

“Well, I don’t know much of anything, do I?” Peter said, “Look, I … I don’t want to fight anymore, and I don’t want to continue being an asshole, but Tony… I deserve to know.”

“My answer’s still no.”

Peter sighed. “Okay, well… I’m going to go back to my room then. I’ll see you later.”

Peter looked hurt, and he got off of Tony’s bed, leaving the room without another word.

Tony sighed, leaning back onto the headboard. It was like one step forward caused two steps back with the kid. Tony was exhausted, and he just wanted them to get along, but he also had to protect Peter. He also had to give a shit in a way Howard Stark never did.

So, why did he feel like he was doing it all wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am currently posting this on a rainy day at the beach. I am about to say fuck it and go for a swim in the rain, just because I can, but first, I wanted this to be up for you guys. 
> 
> Now, onto more story related things, what do you think of the conflict here? Now we get to see that Peter is tired of being angry, but how do you feel about Tony deciding not to tell him his past? Do you think Tony is right? Or do you think Peter should know what has happened to him? 
> 
> Let me know what you think!


	7. A Surprise

Peter was still in his room that evening. Tony was getting frustrated, but knew Peter was going to avoid him for a while. He only hoped the kid would understand eventually why Tony didn’t tell him anything. He had to do what he had to do as a father.

Tony spent all of his time in the living room, hoping to see Peter, but then he got a surprise right after he had ordered dinner for them. Tony heard the elevator ding from where he was sitting, and frowned, not expecting anyone to come and visit them. In fact, he had told everyone to leave he and Peter alone.

However, the last person Tony expecting to see was Pepper, who wasn’t supposed to be in the country at that moment. According to her schedule, she wasn’t supposed to be in town for a good week. She did have a fight that connected through New York, but she was only supposed to be in town for a moment.

“Hi, Tony.” Pepper said, smiling as she gave him a long hug and kiss.

“How are you here?” Tony asked, “I thought you were supposed to be heading out of the country.”

“The plan was delayed for four hours,” Pepper replied. “They had to do some sort of maintenance on it so I thought I would come and see you and Peter. Where is he, by the way? Normally, he’s out here when you are.”

Tony paused, unsure of how to broach the topic. Normally, he would have let the kid tell his own secret, but Peter wasn’t coming out of his room any time soon, and Pepper deserved to know before she found out the hard way and was angry at both of them.

“There is an issue … with Peter.” Tony said.

Pepper frowned. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, physically, but uh… something happened and … and he forgot everything that happened since May died. And he’s… he’s a different kid.”

Pepper’s mouth slightly opened in shock. “Can he… can he get his memories back?”

“Maybe.” Tony said. “But we don’t know.”

“Oh no, Tony.” Pepper said, as the weight of what had happened fell on her. “Does he remember that you adopted him?”

“Nope.” Tony said, as sadness ran through him just thinking about what he had lost. “Kid calls me Mr. Stark again.”

Tony’s voice broke at the words, and Pepper pulled him in to a tight hug. He happily accepted the comfort, glad to have it after so many rough days on his own. He hadn’t hugged anyone in far too long, and damn it, the kid had made him a cuddly man.

Sure, he had the team, and some people knew what was going on, but at the same time, he didn’t have anyone to really comfort him physically about this. He used to be able to hug Peter whenever he wanted, but the kid seemed to hate it these days, and Pepper had been too busy.

“Tony, I had no idea… Do you need me to stay?” Pepper asked. “I can cancel the meetings to try and help.

Tony pulled out of the hug, and shook his head. “No, Pep, you have business meetings for Stark Industries… it’s important and it’s about all of the Wakandan tech that we’re releasing. Don’t worry about me, I’ve got it here.”

“Do you really?”

“I’ll do my best. Besides, I think it’s just better if it’s us. The kid is … a little untrustworthy.”

Pepper nodded, seeming to understand. “Still… I know this is hard for you. You love Peter.”

Tony nodded, and was about to say something else, but the conversation was cut short by the sound of Peter coming out of his room. Tony was shocked that the kid had even considered coming out at all after their disagreement this morning. Peter, when he walked around the corner, seemed to be in his own thoughts, but stopped when he saw Pepper and Tony both looking at him.

Peter looked at Pepper for a long moment, before his eyes moved to Tony and he said, “F.R.I.D.A.Y. told me you were in your lab.”

“I lied, young boss. You two need to talk.” The A.I. answered, and Tony didn’t remember programming her to meddle in his kid’s life, but then again, his A.I.s has been shocking him in all kinds of ways lately.

Peter sighed, looking unhappy about the situation. Tony didn’t blame him; this was awkward as hell.

“I’m Pepper Potts.” Pepper said, holding out her hand. Tony amazed at how she seemed to be able to handle any situation with grace. That was one of the reasons why he had made her the C.E.O. of Stark Industries a long time ago.

“I’ve heard of you… but have I met you before?” Peter said, looking confused.

“You have, but not this you.” Pepper said, smiling. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to know me.”

“You told her?” Peter asked, looking at Tony.

“I did.” Tony replied. Great, this wasn’t going well.

“What happened to things be my secrets?” Peter asked.

“I would have rather found out from Tony, Peter.” Pepper said, the smile still on her face. “Trust me.”

Peter looked unhappy, but said, “Sorry, Miss Potts. I’m a little tense today. It’s nice to meet you again.”

“Same to you, Peter.”

“So, what did you come out here for?” Tony asked Peter.

“Food.” Peter replied. “I was hungry.”

“Have you ordered anything?” Pepper asked Tony.

“Yeah, of course, I ordered pizza right before you got here.”

“What kind?” Peter asked.

“Mushrooms and olives, your favorite. I also added pineapple.”

“On that kind of pizza?” Pepper asked.

“Hey, it’s actually pretty good.” Tony said.

“You and Peter have horrible taste in food.” Pepper said, shaking her head. “Mushrooms and olives… and then pineapple? Gross.”

“Don’t knock it until you try it.” Tony said.

“I’m good, thanks.” Pepper said.

“Thanks, Tony.” Peter said. “For ordering food.”

Tony turned to look at the kid, shocked. “You’re calling me by my first name again?”

“Is that okay?” Peter asked, immediately looking nervous.

“More than okay, kid.” Tony said, smiling at him. “Glad to not be Mr. Stark anymore.”

“You know, I have time to stay for dinner before my flight leaves.” Pepper said, smiling gently at the two. “Why don’t we all have dinner?”

“I’m game. Pete?” Tony asked, looking at the kid.

Peter shyly nodded, a small smile on his face. Tony was relieved. Even if they didn’t get along perfectly, they were still family. Peter was trying, and that was all Tony could ask for these days, because that was all Tony wanted from him.

-

A few hours later, Tony offered to drive Pepper to the airport. She had been quiet throughout dinner, but then again, they all had. It wasn’t awkward, but there wasn’t much to talk about. It was just nice to not argue with Peter. He didn’t care how quiet it was.

Tony thought that he and Pepper would have time to talk about themselves, or to catch up on missed things, but apparently Pepper had other ideas.

“Tony, why does that kid look at you like you’re about to yell at him?” Pepper asked, the minute they were driving off.

Tony was taken aback. “What?”

“I know Peter, Tony. You two have been fighting way more than what you told me. What is going on between you two?”

There were times that Pepper noticed far too much. She had always been observant, and she always caught onto whatever it was that was going on. This was no different. Tony had been hoping she wouldn’t ask, because he knew that he didn’t want to talk about it, but Pepper had the determined look on her face that told him she wasn’t going to let this go until she got the truth.

“The kid’s angry.” Tony said, “About a lot, actually, but mainly because we got into a fight before all of this happened.”

“About what?”

Tony sighed. “There was this attack, and the kid was being way to reckless-“

“You mean the one where he jumped off the missile?” Pepper asked.

“Yes, that one. He put himself into way too much danger that day.” Tony said, and he was sure Pepper was going to agree with him.

“What? Tony, aren’t you the same person that flew a nuke into a wormhole to save New York? You’re his father and the kid has looked up to you for a long time. Besides, he’s got a … spider sense or something, doesn’t he? Doesn’t that alert him to danger?”

“Are you taking his side?”

Pepper considered it. “I mean… yeah. He’s a smart kid. He’s also almost seventeen. He’s by no means an adult, but he is a superhero. You can’t protect him from everything.”

Tony was completely shocked. “Pepper, he’s my kid.”

“Exactly, which means he is going to take after you when it comes to doing dumb and reckless things to save people. I’m not saying I necessarily approve, but I’m saying that you can’t stop it, just like I can’t stop you.”

“I’m not trying to stop him, I’m trying to keep him safe.”

“And how is he taking that, Tony?”

Tony paused. Not well. He wasn’t taking it well at all, and from Pepper’s face, she knew it too.

“The kid saved the Universe.” Pepper added. “You have to let him grow into his own person. What did he think when you told him all he’s done in the last few months?”

“I haven’t told him any of it.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to overwhelm him.”

“Tony, this is his past. You have to tell him! It doesn’t have to be everything, but at least the main points. Or one thing at a time. You really haven’t told him anything?”

“No,” Tony said. “It’s too much for him.”

“It’s his life. I get that you want to protect him, but he has to know what’s happened to him. At least the main things.”

“Well, you and the kid agree on that.” Tony muttered.

“Is that why you’re fighting?” Pepper asked. “You’re not telling him what he’s been through?”

“Pepper, he lost his mind when he found out he was adopted. He was furious. How is he going to react knowing he had to let his aunt fall to her death to save the Universe while I was dying?”

“Did you ever consider that maybe he was so unhappy because you didn’t tell him?” Pepper asked.

“Well, that’s what he said…”

“And you’re still keeping secrets?” Pepper asked.

“Pepper, you don’t understand.”

“Don’t I?” Pepper asked. “Tony I’ve been through this, too. You didn’t tell me when you were dying all those years ago from palladium poisoning. And do you know how that made me feel when I finally found out from a conversation with Natasha and not you?”

“You were pissed.” Tony said.

“You’re damn right I was! You could have told me at any time and you didn’t, all because you were trying to protect me, but I didn’t need that, and neither does Peter.”

“Pepper, I was trying to wait until a good time to tell you.”

“No, you were waiting until you were ready to tell me, which was far too late. I know you want to go through all of this alone, but you have to tell people things when it affects other people, and you need to it as soon as you can. You owe it to them.”

Tony remembered when Pepper had found out he was dying. She had been so pissed, and that had been a part of the reason that she was unsure for so long in their relationship. They had almost broken up, sometimes they did actually break up, because of Tony’s secrets, because Tony wanted to protect her.

“But this is going to break the kid’s heart.” Tony said.

“But that’s part of being a parent. You can’t hide away your children from their burdens. You let them bear it and you help in any way you can. You can stagger it out if you need to. Maybe start with why you adopted him and then that you had an issue with the soul stone. Give him one thing at a time if you have to, but you have to give him something… Tell me, how do you expect it to go if he does find out what happened through someone else?”

“He’s going to be furious.”

“And what’s going to happen if you tell him?”

“He’ll be sad. Or depressed. He’ll have nightmares.”

“But ultimately, he’ll trust you. And he’ll come to you with his issues instead of feeling all of those things and keeping it to himself. Stop pushing him away, Tony. You can’t do that to yourself or him.”

Tony thought about it. Was Pepper right? Was he pushing Peter away and hurting him with his desire to protect the kid?

Maybe he was.

They arrived at the airport in silence. Tony was thinking of how he would bring it up to the kid, how he would go about telling him. When they got there, Pepper said, “It’s going to be okay, Tony. You just have to tell him something.”

Tony nodded, too lost in his own thoughts to say anything else, and gave her a kiss goodbye. She gave him one last look, before she was gone onto the private jet, and on to her next meeting.

Tony drove back to the Tower in silence, not even with music playing in the background. He was wondering what to start with, what to tell Peter. Maybe he could do it the moment he got in, while he had some motivation to get it over with. When he got back, however, Peter was already back in his room, door closed and possibly asleep.

Tony sighed. He would talk to him tomorrow, at least about something.

Or he would maybe the next day. Or the next day after that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guess who got sunburned on her first day? Sigh... I missed my entire chest when applying sunscreen, so after this is posted, I am going to buy a hat and hopefully go ride some waves! I did want to get this out though. I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Also, I realized I haven't said this in awhile, so my Tumblr can be found [Here!](https://edibna.tumblr.com/)


	8. A Man

School the next day went better than it had a few days ago. Peter told F.R.I.D.A.Y. that he wanted to go back, and that morning, Happy was waiting for him. Ned was happy to see him, and his classes felt a little easier. He was still lost, but he had his notes, and he had Ned, who helped where he could.

Peter hadn’t heard from Tony and was worried the man was avoiding him. The last time he had seen Tony was with dinner with his fiancée, Miss. Potts which was the night before. Tony seemed distant ever since then, staying in his lab rather than being in the living room. Peter knew it was probably to be expected, with everything that was happening, so he tried not to feel too hurt by it.

When school was over that day, Peter didn’t hear from Flash, to which he was grateful for. Instead of dealing with that again, Peter went out the back door to meet Happy, but the man wasn’t waiting for him just yet. Peter sighed, wondering if he would have time to start on the mountain of homework he had before Happy got there.

Peter felt his spider sense go off in his head, a dull sensation, nothing that was too dangerous, but something to be wary of nonetheless. Peter turned to look at a man standing across the street, in an alley, staring right at him. He knew it was a bad idea to interact with this stranger, but somehow Peter knew he was there for him, and Peter was too curious for his own good.

Whoever this man was, he was dangerous, but not an outright threat, and Peter trusted his spider sense.

So, Peter crossed the street and walked up to the man.

“Peter Parker Stark.” The man said when Peter got close.

“How do you know my name?” Peter asked, wary, but still curious.

“A lot of people know Iron Man’s son’s name.”

It felt a little weird being referred to as such with everything going on, but technically, it was still true no matter what was going on between Tony and him. So, he didn’t correct it.

“And why are you here?” Peter asked.

“I’m here to ask you… how are you two these days?”

At that question, Peter expected to feel his spider sense go off at someone prying into his life, but there was nothing. Peter knew he shouldn’t talk to a complete stranger, but he couldn’t help but feel like he had met this man before, and here recently, there were a lot of strangers he knew pretty well. This man had to be one of them. If only Tony had told him who he knew when he had his memories, then maybe Peter would know for sure.

“Not great.” Peter said, choosing to hope that he was right and that he had met this man before.

The man didn’t seem happy at that answer.

“And why is that?” The man asked, narrowing his eyes at Peter ever so slightly.

“Do I know you?” Peter decided to ask instead. “I feel like I’ve met you before, but I’m not sure.”

“Yes, well, you wouldn’t know, would you?” The man said.

Peter paused. Did this man know about the memory loss? Was he involved somehow? But Tony had thought it was a stone or something, it couldn’t be a person.

Right?

Then again, Tony didn’t tell him much. So, Peter had no idea.

“So, you know about the memory loss?” Peter decided to ask, hoping he would get an answer.

“Of course I do.” The man answered. “I know many things.”

“And do you know how to reverse it?”

“What would be the point of that? You wouldn’t learn your lesson.” The man answered. Peter was confused, but that was a familiar emotion these days. The man smiled at him. It wasn’t sinister, but it held a sort of weight that made Peter just a little more nervous than he already was. “Good luck with getting those memories back, Peter.”

Peter blinked, and there was no one there. The man was nowhere to be found, and Peter’s spider sense was completely silent in his head, meaning whoever that was, was gone, vanished into thin air. Peter was completely lost as to what had happened, or if it had truly happened in the first place.

Peter blinked again and saw that Happy had pulled up in the time he was trying to get his bearings about him again. Happy got out of the car, asking why Peter was across the street.

“I, uh… I saw a snake and I got curious.” Peter lied. Happy looked like he didn’t believe him, but didn’t ask any more questions. Peter got in the car, still confused, and decided to ask someone about it later. Maybe he would ask Tony, if he could get a straight answer from the man.

-

Tony was in his lab, when Strange came through a portal out of nowhere. Tony jumped almost as high as Peter could when he saw the wizard staring at him, and knocked over his phone and the repulsor that he had been working on.

“Jesus, Strange, could you knock for once?” Tony said, sighing as he cleaned up his own mess.

“No.” Strange replied. “I have my business organized now. Are you ready to go to Vormir?”

“What, right now?” Tony said, feeling a little nervous. He was planning on talking to Peter today, if he could work up the nerve to get it over with.

“This is the best time for me to go. Plus, you only seem to be working on armor anyways.”

Tony rolled his eyes, wondering if it was a good idea to have Strange be his partner on this mission. However, no matter how much Tony didn’t get along personally with the man, he had to admit, Strange was one of the smartest people he had ever met. If there were any two people who could figure out where the soul stone was, it was Tony and Strange.

“My armor is important, just so you know, but I guess I can get it over with.”

“In theory, this won’t take long. Either we find where it is, or we don’t. Don’t worry, Stark, I don’t plan on giving sacrifices today.

Tony had to admit, that did help calm his nerves just a bit, but he still wasn’t happy about the timing. He told F.R.I.D.A.Y. to let Peter knew he was out, and grabbed a jacket from a coat hanger in his lab. If he remembered correctly, Vormir was cold as shit. He also grabbed a suit of armor, while he was at it, suiting up in mere seconds.

Strange watched patiently as Tony got ready, and when Tony had his armor on, Strange opened another portal that they walked in to, and they were on a different planet, Earth far away.

Tony despised space travel. After doing it so often, it felt worse and worse each time he went into space. Being away from his home planet sent fear down his spine, even when he was protected by a suit of armor around his entire body. He didn’t think he would ever get used to space travel, but then again, he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to.

Plus, Vormir was a place that he had no good memories with. It was a place where he had left Peter behind. It was a place where Peter let May fall to her death so he could save the Universe. It was a place where you lost the ones you love, not got them back.

But Strange was right. This was their best bet at least getting something on the soul stone, even if it was the tiniest lead. The stone was connected to this planet, somehow, and if Tony could find the soul stone, he could find the mind stone.

However, the planet was almost unrecognizable. It had always been a dark world, but there was a mystical nature about it, one that Tony could feel the first time he had been transported there, and it was something he should have felt from then on out. But there was nothing. This felt like another cold, hunk of rock in space that meant nothing.

Tony and Strange glanced at each other. This couldn’t mean good things.

“Do you know where it could be?” Strange asked Tony, looking around curiously.

“The only place would be the top of that cliff over there. That’s where it takes it’s sacrifices.”

“Oh, good.” Strange said, sarcastically. “Do lead the way, then.”

Tony nodded, and they began the trek up the mountain. Tony expected the Red Skull, or worse, Thanos to pop out to talk to them, but no one came. There was truly no one there. The planet looked, and felt, dead.

When they got to the top of the cliff, Tony peered over it, wondering if there was anything at the bottom, anything that could give them a lead, or anything at all that was there to give him something, but there was nothing at the bottom of the cliff. A part of Tony was happy, at least there was nothing horrible that would make it to where Tony couldn’t even look at Peter, but another part of him was hoping he would find something.  

“It is as I feared,” Strange said, looking around. “There is nothing here.”

“That much is obvious, Sherlock.” Tony replied, sighing. “So, where do we go from here? You have another idea of a place the stone could be hiding?”

Strange paused, seeming to be in thought. “Stark… I think it is time we considered something else here. Something bigger.”

“What, like the stone being in Peter?”

“Listen, I cross referenced the magic of what hit me when I tried to mess with whatever was on Peter, and it doesn’t appear to be the work of a stone.”

“Then what the hell took my kid’s memories?” Tony said, fear itching into his chest, both because of the planet and because of the news. It was making more and more sense that it wasn’t a stone and Tony hated it.

“That is the thing, Stark. I do not have any ideas. The magic… it is not something I know.”

Tony let out a humorless laugh. Of course they didn’t have any ideas. Of course there were no leads, because why would there be? It wasn’t like he was trying to save his kid or anything. Or at least get him back.

Tony sighed, feeling like he had been propelled back to the beginning of all of this, where nothing made sense. Tony was tired of things not working out.

-

When Peter got back to the Tower, he was a nervous ball of energy. Apparently, Happy had to drop him off at the lobby because of some painting going on in the parking garage, and he was already nervous about running into someone he knew. Plus, the conversation he had with that man earlier was on his mind, and Peter knew he had to tell Tony about it.

It wasn’t going to be fun, though. Telling Tony about what he had seen was probably going to get him yelled at. Tony wasn’t going to be happy that Peter had even gone to talk to whoever it was, much less the fact that Peter had revealed a lot to the man.

A part of Peter knew that if Tony was honest with him about the people he knew, maybe Peter wouldn’t have talked to the man in the first place. Ultimately, Peter had no clue who he knew and who he didn’t know. That alone put him in more danger than he needed to be, or at least Peter thought it did.

But Peter knew it was the right thing to do to tell Tony, so that was what he was planning to do, if Tony would even talk to him.

Peter was walking to the elevator when he ran into a large man. Peter nearly fell over at the force of hitting the man, and looked at him, hoping he didn’t know him.

However, Peter wasn’t that lucky. Even this version of him, without memories or anything, knew who this was.

Peter was standing in front of Thor, the fucking god of thunder.

“Holy shit.” Peter said quietly to himself, before his star struck brain realized that it was possible that past him knew Thor.

“Peter!” Thor said, smiling widely. Peter thought he was about to pass out.

“Hi.” Peter said, his voice too high to be normal, but thankfully, Thor didn’t call him out on it.

“How have you been?” Thor said. “After our talk the other day, I did not hear from you, so I am glad I ran into you, young one.”

“Our… talk?” Peter asked, confused.

“Yes, about you and your father. You two got into an argument the other day and I tried to help.”

Peter was blown away. Thor, the god of thunder, was giving his advice on he and Tony? What kind of a world was he living in?

“Uh, yeah, listen Thor, about that…”

“Perhaps we should go to your floor to speak in private.” Thor said.

Peter nearly fainted at those words, but pulled himself together enough to say, “Yeah, sure, man. Let’s do it.”

Peter never thought he would ever be in an elevator with Thor, but this was almost the greatest day of his life. Peter was sure he had even better ones sometime in the memories that he had lost, but this was definitely in the top ten.

When they got to Peter’s floor, Thor said, “So, what is going on, man of Spiders? You do not seem well.”

“You know who I am?”

“Of course I do.” Thor said. “I have known for a while, but I thought you knew that. What is the matter with you, Peter? You are not yourself.”

“Look, the night after the fight…” Peter trailed off. It didn’t matter how many times he explained this, it was always hard. “Something happened when I went to bed, and I lost my memories.”

“Of what?” Thor asked.

“Anything in the last few months. Anything since Tony took me in.”

“How did this happen, Peter?”

“I don’t know. I just woke up one morning and they were gone. We have no idea what happened, but just now … there was this weird man, and he seemed to know something about it, but I didn’t know who he was.”

Thor narrowed his eyes. “A man? What did he look like?”

Peter pulled up a mental image of the man, saying, “He was tall, with long, dark hair. Pale skin…”

Realization dawned on Thor’s face as Peter rambled off what he knew about the man. “Of course. I knew he would do something like this.” Thor said, but it sounded like it was mostly to himself.

“Who? Do you know this guy?” Peter asked.

“Yes, of course. I think I know who did this to you.” Thor said. “Come, we must leave at once.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, I hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> Do you know who it is? :)
> 
> Also, peace out y'all, I am about to go ride some waves (if there are any) and hopefully not get sunburnt!


	9. Loki

“Leave?” Peter parroted. “Like, as in, going somewhere?”

“Of course.”

“I can’t just leave!” Peter said, “Tony is going to be coming back soon, F.R.I.D.A.Y. sent me a text saying he was gone somewhere. And if I’m not here when he gets back, he’s gonna freak out!”

“I do not see why.” Thor replied. “We are going to fix what has ailed you. If anything, he will be glad we left!”

“Are you sure?” Peter asked.

“Of course!” Thor said, “I know Stark very well! He will be glad you left to fix your problem.”

Peter wasn’t too sure, but he didn’t exactly want to bother Thor about it. But, the god probably did know Tony pretty well, considering they had worked together for years at this point. Plus, Peter had been wrong about Tony tons of times before, so perhaps Tony wouldn’t freak out.

“Okay,” Peter replied. “I’ll go. Where are we going?”

“Norway. We are going to visit New Asgard, which is where the person who did this to you resides. We will go have a word with him.”

“How are we getting there? Do you have a quinjet?”

“I am going to open the bifrost. It may ruin the floors, though. Do you think he’ll mind?” Thor asked. Peter didn’t quite understand, but he only shrugged, not wanting to make himself look like an idiot. “Come, young one, let us leave at once.”

Peter stepped closer to Thor, and his world exploded in beautiful, colorful lights. When it all stopped, they were in a different place, where it was slightly cooler than New York, and they were in an open field. In the distance, there was a small civilization.

Thor began to walk in the direction of the town, and Peter followed. When they got there, they saw small houses lining the roads, somewhat modern in their build, but they had an old-time quality to them as well. People walked the roads, bowing at Thor as they passed. Those had to be the Asgardians. They all looked not entirely human, but fairly close. If Peter hadn’t have met aliens before, he wouldn’t have noticed.

Thor and Peter continued walking until they arrived as a much larger home, in the center of town.

“Prepare yourself, Peter. The person I am about to take you to see is quite dangerous.” Peter nodded, and braced himself for the worst. When they walked in, the dull spider sense that Peter had felt earlier in the day came back, gently poking at him. Sitting on the couch was the exact man Peter had seen earlier in the day, and he was looking at them curiously.

“Brother, why have you brought him here?” The man said, somehow managing to look both curious and disinterested at the same time.

Thor sighed, and looked at Peter, “Man of spiders, I want you to meet Loki, my brother.”

Peter looked at Loki, before his eyes went back to Thor. “Is he the guy who attacked New York?”

“Yes.” Thor said.

“Is he … on our side?”

“I’m on whichever side benefits me.” Loki said, shrugging.

“Brother, we need to talk.”

“What ever about?” Loki said, feigning cluelessness.

“How about the fact that you took Peter’s memories?” Thor said.

Peter glanced between them, wondering if Thor’s direct method was a good idea. At the glare that Loki gave Thor, he decided it was not. Peter wanted to run at the feeling of the unsaid argument hanging in the air.

Peter had realized that he was an outsider the moment Loki and Thor were in the room together. It was entirely obvious that they had been fighting for a while, just by their attitude towards each other, and that another one was coming. Peter thought to himself that this must be how other people felt when he and Tony were arguing in the same room, however maybe not with as much magic, and fear.

“Why have you done this, Loki?” Thor asked. “I told you not to mess with the people of Earth.”

Peter decided that he was going to stay out of this as much as possible. He hadn’t seen Thor angry before, but he certainly didn’t want to test the waters now. Plus, Loki was not without his own power either. Peter’s spider sense told him that much.

“I was trying to help, which according to you, will make the humans trust me.”

“Help?” Thor said. “How could you be helping anyone by making a child lose his memories?”

Loki looked at Peter, who almost wanted to jump out of the room, and said, “You feel helped, right? Is your relationship with your father not better than it was before?”

“Loki, this is not how things work around here.” Thor said, before Peter had a chance to say anything himself. Peter was thankful for that. “You cannot meddle with people’s lives in the way you do. It is not going to help.”

“How did it not help, brother? They will get along much better than they had before because of me! Their relationship will mend itself and-“

“They are fighting worse, Loki!” Thor said. “I can see it on Stark and I can see it on his child.”

Should Peter leave? He wanted to leave.

“Things get worse before they get better.” Loki said, “I think the humans say that.”

“But you caused that pain. They would not be in such a place if you had not messed with the child’s mind.”

“Oh please, their relationship would have fallen apart if it was not for me!” Loki said.

“You do not know that, Loki!” Thor said, “And you cannot know it! This is not how life on Earth works!”

“This was the best option. I saved their relationship and did Stark a favor. If he knew-“

“He would kick you off this planet without a second thought! When I offered you refuge here, I thought we agreed that you would stay here under my care until we found a way to broach the topic of you being here.”

“And how long has that taken? Months? Years? Decades?”

“It has been around nine months, Loki.” Thor said, sighing. “Which is a blink of an eye for us. You have to understand, this is not a planet where schemes are easily forgotten.”

“I cannot just sit here and look at the same buildings and places for this long! I used to be a king!”

“You stole that title from father.”

“I was still a king.”

“And so what? This was supposed to get Stark to trust you?”

“Yes! It was supposed to grant me asylum into the Avenger’s Tower. At least there, I could do something interesting.”

“Loki, humans are fragile, you can’t stab them-“

“They can live from a stab wound, Stark has done it twice.”

Peter tensed at the thought of Tony getting stabbed again. He didn’t know how much he liked Loki, if the god was wanting to stab Tony.

“You cannot say that in front of his child!” Thor said.

Loki looked at Peter, “You understand what I mean, right?”

Peter shook his head, even though it probably was a bad idea to engage at all. Man, Tony was going to kill him when he found out what Peter was up to.

“Are you serious?” Loki said, rolling his eyes. “You humans are so dull.”

“They are not dull.” Thor said. “They are young, and they do not like to be stabbed.”

“What kind of a world is this if I cannot stab people?”

“Earth, Loki! This is Earth!”

“Well, I want to see Earth, Thor!” Loki snapped and Peter physically flinched. Being in the same room as both Loki and Thor when they were both angry did not sound like a fun time. In fact, it sounded terrifying. “I cannot live on a planet that I am only allowed to see a part of!”

“If you would have waited, I would have found a way!”

“What, by disguising myself as a different person?”

“Well, yes, considering you attacked New York years ago and caused billions of dollars in damage!”

“I do not even know what a ‘billions of dollars’ is.” Loki said, rolling his eyes. “And I do not care to know. The point is, I saw an opening through Stark’s child, and I took it. It was even your idea.”

“My idea? How dare you insinuate that I somehow caused this?”

“You were the one who said that they needed to see how far they’d come. I just helped them out a little.”

“How did you hear that?” Thor said. “That was a private conversation between young Stark and I!”

“I am surprised you did not notice the tracking spell placed on you ages ago.”

“Loki…” Thor said, groaning. “I am tired of this dishonesty.”

“And I am tired of being here!” Loki said.

“If you are so unhappy with this, then you can leave.”

Loki paused, frowning heavily. “I do not want to go anywhere else. What is left of Asgard is all I have.”

“Then, you need to do as I say.” Thor said, “As it is, Stark is going to lose much trust in me after he finds out what has happened to his son!”

“So, what do you want me to do, reverse the spell?”

Peter paused. What? It could reversed, just like that? Would this all be over then?

“Yes, I do.” Thor said.

Loki heaved a heavy sigh, and looked at Peter again. “Fine, if you insist, I shall reverse my incredibly difficult to cast spell.”

Peter said, “Could I have broken spell otherwise?”

“You would have had to deal with your issues with your father, but yes. What would be the point of casting a spell to heal a relationship if it couldn’t be broken?” Loki said, rolling his eyes as if what he had just said was the most obvious thing in the Universe.

“So… if it’s not reversed yet … nothing has been resolved.”

“No,” Loki said, coupled with an annoyed glance at Thor. “You have not gotten the chance to.”

“So, what do you think will happen if we reverse it?” Peter asked.

“You will go back to where you were. Fighting without any resolution. I saw most of it. Your father is trying to protect you by smothering you. You are trying to run away from it, and you are both being incredibly thick skulled about it.”

“Loki…” Thor warned.

“What? Is it not true? Without the spell, it can be assumed you will go back to the way you were. Maybe it will get better for a time, but not entirely. This spell is meant to correct issues. If progress has been made, certain things come back, but if you have not regained your memories, then you have not fully resolved your issues.”

“Loki, things cannot be fixed on Earth with spells.” Thor said.

“I disagree.” Loki said, crossing his arms.

“Maybe … maybe I don’t want the spell reversed.” Peter said. Both Thor and Loki looked shocked.

“Peter,” Thor said, “Are you sure? It is rare that Loki is ever willing to reverse one of his spells.”

“Especially one as good as this. I will not reverse it later.” Loki added.

“But you said I had issues with Tony, and if this is reversed, we’re just back to where we were.” Peter said. “And I don’t want to be stuck in this cycle where Tony and I have something going on. We need to fix this, and I’m worried Peter with memories won’t want to. We’ll both just be so caught up in the fact that the spell is gone that … that we don’t fix it.”

“Peter, you father would want this reversed.” Thor said.

“But this isn’t his choice. I know this affects him and everything, but they’re my memories, and my life. Yeah it sucks that I don’t remember it, but I get to make the choice on what goes on in my head. I know he would want me to have the spell reversed… but he’s not really making the best choices lately. He doesn’t trust me enough to do this, but I trust myself.”

“This is your last chance, Parker.” Loki said, crossing his arms. “No one else will be able to reverse this, or trace it to me.”

“That’s fine.” Peter said. “I’ll deal with it. As long as it can be fixed, I want to do it the right way.”

Loki looked at Peter for a long moment, and Peter would even say he looked impressed. “It is a noble decision to let the spell run its course. I commend you, Parker.”

“Thanks, but uh, unless I ask, maybe no more spells?” Peter asked.

“That I can promise, Peter.” Thor said, cutting in with a sharp look at Loki, who rolled his eyes in response and looked back at a book he was reading in his lap disinterestedly. Peter nodded, relieved Loki seemed to have agreed even though he didn’t outright do so.

“Okay, well, then, I should probably get heading back. I bet Tony is wondering where I am.” Peter said.

“Are you going to tell him what you learned today?” Thor asked.

“I probably need to.” Peter said, sighing. “He’s not going to be happy, but I won’t tell him where Loki is, so he won’t be able to do anything… but if we’re fixing this, it’s probably better to not keep things from him.”

Thor nodded, and Peter felt his phone in his pocket buzz. He pulled it out, worried about what it could be, and nearly dropped it when he saw it was Tony.

_Just got back to the penthouse, and you’re not here. Where are you? If you don’t answer, I’ll track your phone… but I wanted to text first._

Peter looked up at Thor with wide eyes. He had to get back as soon as possible.

“Yeah, we need to go.” Peter said. “Tony is back, and he just asked where I was. I’m surpised he didn’t find a way to teleport here.” He said, feeling nervous at the fact that Tony had found out he was gone. Thor nodded, stepping closer to Peter, and the world exploded into light.

All Peter heard was Loki’s indignant, “Thor! You’re ruining the carpet!” and they were gone.

-

Tony was stressed. Their one lead, the only thing that could have caused Peter’s memory loss, had turned out to be a complete dead end. How were they going to get this reversed? How were they going to fix it?

Plus, Tony had to tell Peter his past. He had to open up to the kid about what he’d been through. And then, he had to tell him that they went to Vormir and found nothing. He didn’t know how the kid felt about getting his memories back, but after Tony told him the truth, Peter may not even want to know.

Tony, however, was glad to be back on Earth. He hated space travel, especially after everything he had been through with it. Being back in the Tower was relaxing, and Tony looked at the clock on the oven, and realized Peter should have been back from school.

“Well, Stark,” Strange said, “Have fun with your son. I will do more research and see what I can find.”

“Thanks, Strange.” Tony replied, and the man was gone into another portal.

“Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y., where is Peter?” Tony asked, expecting the kid to be in his room.

“Peter left with Thor.” The A.I. responded.

“What? And you didn’t tell me?”

“You were offline, sir.”

“Shit! Why would be leave with Thor? What are they even doing?”

“Recording of the time indicates that Thor had an idea as to who could have erased Peter’s memories and they both went to investigate about thirty minutes ago.”

“What?” Tony said. “Are you kidding me? I really need to have a talk with Thor about taking my kid to places without even leaving a note for me.”

“Peter did express concern at leaving without telling you.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

“Well, great. Kid was right on that one. Any idea where they went?”

“Norway, to New Asgard. If they went anywhere else, they did not specify.”

Tony thought about it, and knew it would take a couple of hours for a suit to get him there. Maybe a quinjet would be faster. Tony pulled out his phone, and was about to track Peter’s phone location, before something stopped him.

Tony and Pepper had just had a conversation about trusting the kid. Tony knew Peter was perfectly capable of handling anything that came his way. He was smart, and he had powers that he could almost do anything with, even if he didn’t understand them all at that moment. Plus, he was with Thor, and the only thing that could cause any issues would be Loki, who was dead.

Tony and Peter’s one fight had been over the same thing, Tony not trusting Peter’s instincts.

So, Tony decided not to try to track Peter’s phone. Maybe jumping the gun wasn’t the best option here. Maybe all Tony needed to do was reach out, and at least see if Peter was okay, rather than immediately going to Norway when the kid might be heading back at any moment.

_Just got back to the penthouse, and you’re not here. Where are you? If you don’t answer, I’ll track your phone … but I wanted to text first._ He sent the text without a second thought, hoping Peter would answer quickly. He was serious about tracking Peter’s phone, or coming after him if the kid was really in danger, but he also wanted to trust Peter knew what was going on.

The kid didn’t answer for a whole minute, and Tony was considering tracking him, but there was a blast of multi-colored light that exploded in the room, and Thor and Peter appeared, looking unharmed and alright. The marble floors were shot, though, but Tony didn’t care at that moment, even though later he was going to make Thor replace them.

“Hey!” Peter said, stepping forward. “Sorry, I got your text. We came back as soon as we could-“

“It’s fine. F.R.I.D.A.Y. told me you had a lead on what happened to you?” Tony asked.

Peter nodded. “Yeah, we figured it out.”

Tony felt nervous, but also grateful. Finally, they had answers. Peter had done better than he had on Vormir.

“I will leave you two to talk.” Thor said, looking nervous, and slightly guilty. Tony had no idea what that was all about. He never recalled Thor looking guilty. “Call me when… well, when you need me to return.”

Peter must have had an idea what was going on, because he nodded, looking nervous himself. Tony was eager to get started on hearing what had happened to him, because it had been too long since he had a clue what was going on. However, right after Thor was gone downstairs, a loud rumble echoed through the entire city, almost making Tony lose his balance, and causing pictures and glasses to fall from walls and cabinets.

Tony only got a moment to glance at Peter, before the T.V. came on, and a man with a sinister smile appeared.

“Hello, New York.” He said. “I have some demands… and if they are not met, you all will die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of you guys were right! A few of you noticed Loki was tagged at the beginning of the story, so kudos to you if you got it. Some people were concerned that I was making Loki the villain which is defnitely not the goal here. :) 
> 
> Also, what do you think of that cliffhanger? 
> 
> See y'all later! I am heading to so some shopping since the ocean decided to make the water too dangerous for humans to swim in. 
> 
> Let me know what you all think!


	10. And It All Falls Down

Tony reached out, as the words washed over him. He gripped Peter’s shoulder tightly. Memories or not, whatever was about to happen was terrifying. It was not going to be safe. It was not going to easy. Tony had been doing this for so long that it was a gut feeling.

The kid didn’t even flinch away. Peter’s eyes were glued to the T.V., his spider sense was probably going crazy at the danger they were in. Hell, even Tony’s gut feeling was going off. He could only imagine how Peter felt.

“There is a bomb under New York City.” The man said. “You cannot call on the Avengers, because I already have a task for them. If the bomb detonates, the entire Long Island area will be decimated. You have already felt a tremor, which is just a miniscule feat compared to what the full detonation will do. I believe the high rises in New York City are not equipped to handle a tremor like you just felt. I imagine they are weakened already.”

Peter looked at Tony with wide eyes, an unasked question in his gaze.

“This building should be fine.” Tony said, “Fortunately for us, jackass is wrong about the Tower. New York has been due for an Earthquake for a while, so I prepared us, but the other buildings? Yeah, they may have some issues. I’m not sure what they’re made of, but that was a heavy hitting blast.”

“So, what do we do?” Peter asked, but he was cut off as the man continued.

“I only have three demands.” The man said. “You need not know my name to complete them, but first, I want all of Tony Stark’s money in the bank account that currently printing off of every printer in New York. Don’t worry, the name attached is not mine. Second, I want President Bittenbinder, the one who authorized my departure from the Department of Defense, at the top of the Empire State building… Third, I need the Avengers, but this last one will be easy, as they will be here soon. Happy gathering, New York.”

The T.V. began to replay the message, and Tony barked at F.R.I.D.A.Y. to get it to shut off, also asking her to trace the transmission.

“It is untraceable, Boss.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. warned.

“She is right, sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said, coming through the elevator, which was thankfully still working. “Whoever this person is, he knows what he is doing.”

Steve and Natasha walked in right after him with Thor, having used the stairs. Tony took a deep breath, and pulled Peter closer. Peter didn’t seem bothered by it, but his eyes were on Steve. This version of him hadn’t met Captain America yet, but then again there was so much going on that he didn’t seem to care as much as he would have at any other time.

“We need to suit up.” Steve said, looking at Tony intensely.

“What information can we get on this guy?” Natasha asked.

“None,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. and I cannot get a location on this man, he is almost untraceable.”

An alert went on throughout the Tower, and they all realized that New York was under attack. From their vantage points, it seemed to be robotic, and, whatever they were, they were attacking buildings, not yet civilians directly.

Tony sighed. “We all need to suit up.”

“Agreed, Stark.” Thor said.

“Even me?” Peter asked.

Tony paused to consider what Peter had asked. Of course Tony didn’t want Peter getting mixed up in whatever it was that they were going to fight. Of course Peter didn’t need to be involved. Whoever this was, they wanted the Avengers dead and his kid didn’t need to be in it. However, they would need all hands on deck and they didn’t have a choice.

“Yeah, even you. Use the Iron Spider suit, kid.” Tony replied.

“Actually, I have another idea.” Steve said, “But Tony, you’re not going to like it.”

“What is it?” Tony said, dread filling him.

“This guy wants the Avengers.” Steve said. “That’s us, but Peter, or Spider-man, was never an active part of the Avengers. Yeah, lately he’s been seen with them, but there’s never been an official announcement. We need to use that.”

“To do what?” Tony said.

“I think Peter needs to find whatever is under the city.”

Tony’s first instinct was to yell at Steve. How could he put his kid in such danger? There was no way he was going to let Peter search under the city for a bomb, or whatever it was that was down there. But then again, who else would be able to without being noticed?

“Look, we get it if you don’t want to do it,” Natasha said. “But no one else is small or smart enough to deal with this…” She paused, and looked at the attack. “Wanda and I are going to head out. Steve, Thor, you should come with. Let us know what you decide, Tony. We can maybe send someone else down.” She said, not waiting for an answer. In just seconds, they were gone to be the first line of defense.

“I think … I think that’s for the best.” Peter said., after everyone but J.A.R.V.I.S. “I know you want to protect me, and I know I’m your kid but… we need someone under the city.”

“Steve’s right.” Tony said, even though he didn’t want to.

“What?” Peter asked, shocked. “Wait, you’re agreeing with him?”

“Unfortunately, I am… Kid, I hate this. If you were anyone else, I would have you in an underground bunker right now. But, Pete, you are Spider-man, whether I like it or not. And Steve’s right, they won’t expect you to be under the city … But, I want you to have J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y. and Karen with you in case you do find it. I don’t know if you’ll be able to defuse it or not… but you might be able to give us something. If it’s too big, we’ll try to get Wanda down there, if she can even do anything.”

Peter looked nervous at the idea, but he nodded. “Okay, and I’ll have the coms right?”

Tony nodded in response.

“I just…” Peter seemed to be struggling to figure out what to say. “We never got to talk so… don’t die, or anything. Stay safe, please.”

“Kid, we’re a distraction. You need to stay safer than me. But I’ll try my best.”

Peter paused, and then jumped to Tony and gave him a huge hug. They stayed like that for only a moment, before Peter pulled away.

“You go ahead.” Peter said.

“I’ll have Fri send your suit.” Tony said. “Stay safe, kid.”

Peter nodded.

Tony didn’t want to leave, but there was a suit next to him, and he had to. This had to be one of the most difficult things he had ever done in his life, letting his kid go ahead and do the most dangerous part of the mission. He had wanted to hide Peter away, but Pepper was right, Steve was right, and Peter was right. Peter had to be able to handle himself. Tony could be there for him, but he couldn’t hide him way. Not this time. Not in this way. So, Tony would do his part, and blasted off to be the distraction.

As Tony got to the fight, the team was barely keeping it under control. Tony realized he wasn’t meeting the demands of the man, who probably wasn’t going to be very patient. The Avengers and Peter were operating on negative time already. Tony only hoped his kid would be okay. Tony hoped the kid could figure it out.

He had to. All of New York was depending on him.

-

Peter was overwhelmed, and he was tired, but he didn’t have time to be. All Peter had wanted to do was to talk to Tony. He didn’t exactly want to fight anyone, because he knew there were pieces of his own training he was missing, but he had to do something. Anything.

He was terrified at the idea of finding a bomb. He was terrified of the idea of getting himself injured, or failing and all of New York paying the price. He was terrified of what could happen. But he was Spider-man. He had to get over his fear and do what had to be done.

Peter was in the Iron Spider suit, and both J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y. had a direct com through Karen. They were silent, still trying to figure out any information on the man who was attacking New York. Peter also had an optional com to the team, and he saw they were fighting the robots that were attacking New York.

Whoever this was, he was making it personal. Replicas of Tony’s old suits, replicas of Ultron and anything from their past, made up all the robots they were fighting. Peter could only imagine how Tony felt, fighting his past in the way he was.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked him through a private com between the two of them. He dropped into the subway line, which had been shut down in the attack.

“Sure, kid. I just love fighting every mistake I ever made.”

That made Peter feel bad for asking. “I’m sorry, Tony.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m just freaked out. Are you okay?” Tony asked, changing the subject, his voice softer.

“Yeah, I’m underground, I have no idea where to go, though.”

“It could be anywhere. I would think in the middle of the city, but then again, this guy doesn’t seem to want to do anything that’s expected of him. He’s probably getting irritated that we’re not meeting his demands.”

Peter took a deep breath. “So I need to find this thing.”

“Yeah, or else we may actually have to go get President Bittenbinder.” Tony said. It was an attempt at a joke, but Peter knew that any joke wasn’t an option. It was a serious consideration.

“Team,” The voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. said, as Peter looked around the subway for a place to start his search. “We may have found another piece of information about the attacker. He mentioned in his demands that he wants the president who authorized a lay off. Only thirty people were laid off from the department of defense in that last five years.”

“Well that narrows it down.” Tony said. “Good work you two. Thanks for getting along through this.”

“Boss, our combined computing power helps us run more tests and find out more information.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

“We are happy to be of assistance.” J.A.R.V.I.S. added.

“How cute.” Natasha said, her voice strained from fighting.

“We will let you know if we find anything else.”

“Peter,” Karen said, in their own personal com. The team could not hear them. “I have run all tests and there are at least 500 places that the bomb could be, depending on the size of it.”

“Great.” Peter said, sighing. He looked around. He was in an area that went in many different directions, all of them looking the same. However, as he looked at the one behind him, his spider sense kicked in, telling him there was danger that way. All parts of him were telling him not to go that way, but Peter knew that had to be where the bomb was. Peter trusted his instincts.

Peter webbed down the subway for a few minutes. He did it quickly, even though his spider sense was telling him to turn around. He was making decent time, covering a lot of area quickly. Peter continued to follow his sense as it grew, which meant he had to be getting close. Eventually he got to a large open area, and his map told him he was on the edge of Long Island, where it connected to the rest of New York. He landed to take a breather and to figure out where to go next.

Peter heard someone moving, and tensed up. Someone attacked him from behind, but Peter used strength he didn’t know he had to flip whoever it was on their back. This person had a knife, and was dangerous, but Peter eventually webbed them up, after only a few moments of close calls. Peter took a good look at the person, and realized it was only a kid, about his own age.

“Who are you?” Peter said, shocked at the kid’s age.

“You can’t stop us,” The kid said, glaring at him. “We will win this one.”

“Who is we?” Peter asked

“My dad and I.” He said, glaring. “We lost everything, he lost his job, I lost my scholarship for my private school. Now we’re gonna take it all back, and you heroes can’t stop us.”

“The bomb is near, isn’t it?”

“Of course it is.” The boy said. “But you’ll never be able to defuse it. You’ll never win.”

“Team,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. and I have narrowed it down. The man doing this is Michael Winn, former S.H.E.I.L.D. agent and former Department of Defense employee. He was laid off three months ago and is incredibly talented with robotics.”

“I can tell.” Sam said.

“Great, is that is motive?” Steve asked.

“Really? You’re gonna blow up an island because you lost your damn job?” Tony said, sounding pissed. “And what the hell do I have to do with this?”

“Sir, the department of defense had been slowly shrinking since Rhodey instilled the Iron Patriot into their forces. Also, you were recently named the richest man in the world.”

“Of fucking course.” Tony muttered.

“He’s also got a son.” Peter alerted them. “I have him here.”

“In the subway?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, I think he’s near the bomb.”

“You okay?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, he’s webbed up.”

“Young sir, Winn’s son went missing three months ago from school, but it was never reported to police by his father. He was a regular subway traveler, and was seen recently on many subway lines.”

“So, the kid’s got street smarts.” Tony said. “They’re trying to throw us off our rhythm.”

“Are you really quoting John Mulaney right now, Tony?” Peter asked, in disbelief at how fast Tony’s mood could change.

“Gotta make light of the situation somehow, kid.”

“We need to find the bomb.” Steve said.  

“It’s near here.” Peter said. “I can feel it. I’ll let you know when I find it.”

“Got it, kid. Stay safe.” Tony replied.

The coms shut off, and Peter webbed the boy’s mouth and made sure he couldn’t go anywhere. Peter then looked around, settling on going in to an older area, where his spider sense told him there was something dangerous hiding inside. Peter ran towards it, wondering how big the bomb could be. He stopped when he saw it, jaw dropping as he realized the true danger they were in.

“Oh no.” Peter said, dread filling him, coupled with his already screaming spider sense. “Oh no, no, no.”

He opened up the coms again immediately. “Guys, I found the bomb and … it’s bad.” Was all he could say.

It was true. It the entire abandoned subway line he was in was covered with explosives, all counting down at different times, and Peter had no idea how he was going to defuse them all in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Props to you if you caught the (admittedly obvious) John Mulaney references before I name dropped him. If you have no seen any of his comedy specials, please do because they are so funny. 
> 
> Also, do you think Peter will be able to defuse the bomb(s)? Do you think Tony is going to be okay? Are they ever going to talk?! 
> 
> Find out soon!


	11. Defusing the Situation

 “Pete? Pete, what are you seeing?” Tony was saying. Peter was barely registering anything. He was too busy trying to figure out how he was going to save New York.

“Sending live feed.” Karen replied. Peter was grateful that she seemed to understand what to do.

“Oh shit.” Tony said, and there was the resounding sound of him firing his respulors at something. “How many are there?”

“Enough to do as Winn says.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “These explosives, if detonated all at once, would cause a chain reaction in all of the subway systems. However, if they detonate separately, they will not be as damaging.”

“Detonating all at once would result in catastrophic collapse of high rises. It would be comparable to an earthquake past an eight on the Richter scale.”

“How did…” The voice of Tony said. “How did he do this?”

“Winn appears to have been the one to steal the most recent advancement of the thermonuclear bomb from the department of defense. He may have also made more.”

“And the government decided not to warn us that these were stolen?” Tony asked

“They may have figured it was easier not to.” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

“Great, of course.” Tony said, sounding pissed. “It’s hard to do our fucking job when no one tells us what the hell is going on.” Tony said.

“Now’s not the time.” Natasha said, through the coms.

“How do I disarm this?” Peter said, feeling nervousness hit him as he looked at what could happen. There was no way he could escape this. He had no idea what amount of time they had, because everything was on different times.

“How long do we have?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know.” Peter said, looking around, “They’re all at different times.”

“Fri, Jar, do you have a live feed? Can you see what he sees?”

“Yes, sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “They all have different times, however if one detonates, with the kind of bomb they are, they all will go off.”

“Boss, we just have to shut down the one with the least time. I believe the different times are a diversion.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. added.

“It’s a good diversion.” Tony said.

“Scan completed.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Peter, it is the one on the left that will detonate first. You will need to defuse that one, and then shut down the power source that connects it.”

“Can it still go off after it’s defused?” Peter asked. “Why do I need to shut off the power?”

“There is a failsafe that will allow it to, yes. It must be completely shut off before it is considered safe.”

“What’s powering it?” Peter asked.

“Scanning now.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “There is a system that is blocking me. I will attempt to break in. F.R.I.D.A.Y. will assist you with defusing the bomb.”

“At your service, young boss.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said. “I have put us onto a private com so we can work. Boss has access if he needs to talk to you.”

“Okay,” Peter said, walking up to the bomb that J.A.R.V.I.S. had pointed out to him. He tried to take a deep breath to calm down, but it didn’t work. He was terrified. His spider sense was telling him to get out of the subway system, or out of the city if he had time. Normally his spider sense alerted him to danger, but this time, it was telling him to get out, and that this was hopeless.

“I can’t… I can’t do this.” Peter said out loud. He couldn’t. The team just had to leave.

“Young boss, you do not have much time. Do you want me to contact Boss?” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

“Yes,” Peter said, surprising even himself when he said it.

“Kid?” Tony said. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I can’t do this.” Peter said, his voice cracking. His hands were shaking. “I can’t defuse this.”

“What? Is it impossible?”

“No,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said. “These bombs have been heavily studied. As long as J.A.R.V.I.S. finds the power sources, it can be defused.”

“My hands are shaking.” Peter said quietly.

“What? Kid, I can’t hear you.”

“I said, my hands are shaking.” Peter said, louder. “I can’t defuse a bomb with shaky hands! You shouldn’t have had me do this. My spider sense is going crazy, just telling me to leave, and I … I’m not good at this. You shouldn’t have trusted me.”

“Kid, it’s gonna be okay.”

“No, it isn’t! It’s too much.”

“Peter,” Tony said sternly, and Peter was sure he was about to send someone else down to do it, but the older man didn’t. “I know you can do this. I know your spider sense is going off in your head. I don’t even have one and I can feel it. You’re okay to be terrified. I am too.”

“But … but I shouldn’t be! I need to be able to do this, I need to show you that I can be trusted and I can handle fights and danger!”

“You can handle things Peter… you can.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’ve seen you do it, and here recently, I’ve been too overprotective to let _you_ see that you can do it, too. Kid, I know you can do this, because you have saved all of our asses way too many times to count.”

“Then… why are you so worried about me all the time?”

“Kid, I worry because I care. But I over did it, and I think I made you question what you could really do when you lost your memories, but you can do this. I trust you to do this, okay?”

“Okay.” Peter said. “Thank you.”

“Are your hands still shaking?”

“A little, but I’m calming down.” Peter said, and it was true. At least someone believed in him.

“Okay, you’ve got this kid.” Tony said.

Peter finally felt the shred of confidence that he needed to feel, so he listened as F.R.I.D.A.Y. gave him the set of instructions to defuse the bomb. He did everything he could, up until the end, where he disengaged the mother-board.

“Now young boss, all the system needs is a reboot. Without the system, it cannot turn back on. J.A.R.V.I.S., have you managed to find the power source?”

“Yes, I have confirmed the source is off of the grid. In fact, it is connected to Avenger’s Tower.”

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” Tony said. “Can people please stop using my shit for mass destruction?”

“Sorry sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

“So I need to reboot the system?”

“Just like old times.” Tony said.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve rebooted a system before.” Tony explained and Peter was shocked when something on his brain caught on. Had he rebooted a system before? Maybe he remembered it. “I’ll tell you more when we get out of this alive.”

When. Not if, when. That was a comforting thought.

“Peter, you need to return to the Tower.” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “I have mapped out a way for you to reboot the system without doing too much damage to it.”

“Good man, Jar.” Tony said.

“Got it.” Peter said, seeing the map. He ran at full speed, only having nine minutes left. Karen displayed the time on his screen as he ran, and he found himself back at the Tower with only three minutes to spare. He ran to the control room, which was thankfully on the first floor. All he had to do was dangle twenty feet in the air to get to the control panel for most of the arc reactor.

“Tony, you really need to stop designing stuff like this.” Peter said, sighing.

“Sorry, kid.” Tony said, almost automatically, then he added. “Wait, you remember that?”

“I think so, but I don’t think now is the best time to talk about it.” Peter said. It was true. He dimly remembered something being like this a long time ago, but he couldn’t focus on that. He had to save New York.

The spider legs in his suit wound up helping him climb fast, but Peter managed to get the control panel open, and he rerouted the system and turned everything off in record time with help from F.R.I.D.A.Y. He hit a lever before even thinking about it.

“Young Boss, I should warn you-“ But everything exploded around him in that moment, making Peter miss F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s warning. His vision went black and he fell towards the ground, twenty feet up. Peter knew he needed to catch himself, or so something, but his mind was sluggish and he couldn’t move. Peter knew he was going to hit the ground.

But he never did.

Peter opened his eyes, only to see himself on the ground, but nothing hurt. He didn’t know how he hadn’t really injured himself.

“Peter! Peter!” Tony was saying. “Did J.A.R.V.I.S. warn you it was gonna explode? Are you okay?”

Peter slowly sat up, feeling slightly out of it. He blinked slowly, trying to get his bearings. He paused when he saw Loki in front of him.

“Peter, kid, you need to answer me or I am coming to check on you, bomb or not.” Tony said.

“I’m… I’m fine.” Peter said, looking at Loki. “The bombs aren’t going to go off. I did it. Are you guys okay?”

“We’re good, kid. Still got a lot of clean-up to do, but much less than if those had bombs gone off.”

Peter was eying Loki, so much so that he barely caught Tony’s praise.

“Uh, yeah, thanks. Listen, I’ll be up in a second.” Peter said.

“Concussion detected.” Karen said.

“What? Kid, you said you were fine!” Tony yelled.

“I am.” Peter said. “Look, I’m not alone. I’m not in danger, but I have to handle this. You need to trust me.”

“Okay, kid.” Tony said, “I do trust you. Let me know when you’re ready, kid.” and the com was shut off.

Peter took off his mask.

“Ah, Parker.” Loki said.

“You knew I was Spider-man.” Peter said. He didn’t even have to ask.

Loki nodded. “Of course I did. I can’t be the trickster god without knowledge.”

“Did you just save me?”

Loki smiled, but somehow still had a disinterested air around him.

“Of course I did. I’m trying to win Stark’s approval, after all.”

“Is that really why you did it?”

Loki sighed, being caught doing something nice looked to be taxing on the god. “You are very smart… Let’s just say, it would be a shame to see you die before my spell wore off.”

“Would I have died?” Peter asked.

Loki looked at where Peter fell from. “Probably not, but it would have hurt.”

Peter was just hurting from the half fall he had taken. He couldn’t have imagined what it would have been like if Loki hadn’t have saved him.

“Look, I’ll… I’ll put in a good word with my dad for you.” Peter said. “As a thank you.”

“You are calling him your father again?”

“I … I guess I am.” Peter asked. He had no idea when that had happened.

Loki smiled, “Good luck, Parker. The spell should wear off soon.”

And he disappeared into flecks of green and yellow light. Peter watched him go, shocked at what has just happened. Even though Peter knew Loki was dangerous, the god had just saved his ass, so that meant he trusted him just a little more. Taking a deep breath, he opened up the coms.

“We’re good here.”

“Thank God.” Tony said, through the lines, his voice sounding relieved.

“Good work Peter.” Steve said. “You just saved a lot of people.”

“Yeah, yeah I did.” Peter said. He wanted to feel pride in what he had done, but he couldn’t feel much of anything other than tired. “Hey, the arc reactor blew. I think it’s damaged.”

“Yeah, I knew it would be. The building is on backup power.” Tony said, “I thought F.R.I.D.A.Y. warned you it would.”

“She didn’t get a chance to.”

“Hang on, Pete.” Tony said, “I’m coming to you.”

Peter felt relief at his words, glad someone was meeting up with him.

“New York is secure.” Steve said. “We still need to find Winn.”

“I have a location on him.” Thor said. “Strange helped us out.”

“I’m glad your good looks made him want to help us.” Tony said.

“Me as well, the gods have blessed me.” Thor replied.

“Good Lord, I did not expect you to take that seriously.” Tony said. He must have been getting close, for Peter could hear the sounds of the repulsors through the power core of the building. Just a minute later, Iron Man had touched down on the ground, and Tony, out of his suit, grabbed his shoulders forcefully and was checking him over.

“Is it just a concussion? Don’t you even think about lying to me, kid.” Tony said.

“I’m not sure.” Peter replied, truthfully. “I had to handle the person that was here and I haven’t even checked myself over yet.”

Tony checked his phone, and Peter saw he was pulling up the suit’s stats. “Your suit says it’s just a concussion but also that you fell from the power reactor. How are even up, kid?”

Peter paused. “Uh… someone saved me.”

“Who?” Tony asked, “Was it Strange? Anyone else who could have done it was in the fight.”

“Tony… I … we need to talk about what happened to me. All of it. And I don’t think a blown power reactor is the best place to do that.”

“You’re right, kid.” Tony said, nodding. “Let me work on this so I can get it back up and we’ll just… talk… about everything. Only you and me.”

Peter nodded, smiling even though he was nervous as hell about telling Tony his choice, about Loki, about everything. “Promise?” He asked.

“Promise.” Tony replied, smiling back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, memories! Ah, progress! Ah, a lot of stuff happened here! What are you thoughts? What do you think of Loki? 
> 
> Also, big shout out to my bud Bee-Boy-Apollo on Tumblr for helping me with the plot for this big fight scene. They are amazing anf I love them
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!


	12. We Have to Talk

Tony was able to the get the arc reactor for the Tower fixed in about thirty minutes, with Peter waiting patiently below. The battle with the robots had done minuscule damage to it and the city, thanks to Wanda being there to keep any fighting contained, so all and all, it went well for how large and dangerous it was. A few of the buildings in New York were going to have to be checked out by a city engineer, nothing was too bad and nothing had collapsed.

Clean-up was easy. Thor easily found Winn with Strange, and he was handed over to the government, probably heading for the Raft, which Tony hacked in to so he could make sure Winn stayed there and they didn’t have any more issues. It was all over, and everyone in New York was safe.

But Tony didn’t feel like it was over, though, not when he had a kid to talk to. Tony was still dreading his conversation with Peter, even if they were both alive and getting along at that moment. He hoped they would continue to do so after what he was about to say, about Vormir, about his past. Would the kid forgive him? Would Peter hate him? It was hard to tell these days.

Peter had to get checked out at the Medbay, though, which thankfully, went well. The concussion was only slight, and before any time had passed at all, they were alone in their floor. Peter grabbed a glass of water, looking like he was about to be yelled at.

Tony felt about the same.

So, they sat down on the couch, and Peter opened with, “So I know what happened to me.”

“You said that, kid.” Tony replied, trying to appear calm. “Why don’t we start there?”

“Okay… are you sure you don’t want to go first or anything?” Peter said.

Tony shook his head. Hell no he didn’t want to go first.

“Okay, well, I don’t know how to say this… but you’re not gonna like it.” Peter said.

“Yeah, well, I’ll try not to freak out as much as I can, okay?”

That seemed to help. Peter nodded, and then said, “So… it was Loki, Thor’s brother.”

All of Tony’s idea of keeping his cool went out of the 93rd floor window. Tony stood up from the couch, shocked. “What?” He yelled. “Loki is dead!”

“No he’s not.” Peter said, cringing at what had to be the volume of Tony’s voice. The older man took note and made a mental note not to yell if he could help it. He also sat back down, trying to appear more relaxed than he was.

“Why would he do this?” Tony said, at a much lower volume. “Is he trying to plan something? Is it an attack?”

Peter shook his head. “No… he told me why he did it.”

“And why is that?”

“He said he was trying to help … but I don’t think his definition of help is the same as ours.”

“Wait, wait, hold up. You talked to him?”

“Three times now.”

Tony was floored, “What?”

“Not intentionally or anything! The first time was at school.”

_“What?”_

“He was just looking at me when I saw him!” Peter defended. “And I thought maybe I knew him, so I went to talk and then he was all weird and cryptic, so then earlier today, I ran into Thor and told him, and then he immediately knew who it was, so we went to New Asgard and saw him again and Loki offered to reverse the spell-“

“What, hold up, kid. The spell is reversed?”

Peter paused. “No… I turned it down.”

“You turned down the god of mischief fixing our problem for us? Kid-“

“No, you don’t get it! The spell was going to wear off anyways! He did it because we were fighting.”

“Loki made you lose your memories… because we were fighting.” Tony said, in disbelief.

“Yeah, and once we work out our issues, it will reverse itself. So, I told him I wanted to let the spell run its course.”

Tony was shocked, and he didn’t know what to say. “But we didn’t have problems before this … spell happened.”

“Apparently we did.” Peter said, “And whatever they are… I want to work it out the right way. If we reverse the spell and don’t resolve anything, then what’s the point?”

Tony paused, thinking of his conversations with Pepper on how Tony was keeping secrets, and preventing the kid from being his own person. Tony never thought he would say this, but Loki was right. They had some problems. He only wished they could have worked it out without the memory loss, but then again, would they have really worked them out? Maybe they would have, but maybe not.

Tony didn’t know how he felt about Loki being alive, and that Thor had kept it from him, but the world hadn’t exploded yet, and he and his kid hadn’t finished their conversation, so it would have to wait.

“Okay… and what about the third time?” Tony asked.

“You’re not mad?”

“Kid, I’m exhausted.” Tony said, truthfully. “If I’m going to get mad, it’ll have to be later.”

Peter nodded, and went back to Tony’s original question. “So, the third time was just now. Remember after I rebooted the Tower and I said someone was there? It was Loki.”

“You were alone with him?”

“He kind of saved my life. You saw I was twenty feet up in the air when the arc reactor exploded, and I fell, and then Loki caught me with magic. He said it would have been a shame to see me die before the spell wore off.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I really only understand what he means about half of the time.” Peter said, shrugging.

Tony paused for a moment, before he sighed. “So, Loki is alive.”

“Yeah, he is.”

“I’m gonna have to have a talk with Thor about that one.”

“Look, I … as a thank you, I did say I would put in a good word in with you for Loki. He’s … uh, he’s a little bored out in New Asgard, and Thor won’t let him leave. Maybe it’s not a good idea to let the God of _Mischief_ be bored. I feel like that’s why all of this happened.”

Tony tired mind could only think of one thing at that moment. “Do you think Loki caused my coffee to explode on me the other day?”

“Your coffee exploded on you?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, F.R.I.D.A.Y. recorded it. I’m sure you’ll find it hilarious… but thinking back on it, I don’t think it was possible for coffee to explode like it did.”  

“It might have been him.” Peter said, shrugging.

“And then that pigeon… Loki is probably the pigeon.”

“What pigeon?”

Tony leaned back on the couch. “We used to live at my penthouse, which I still have, and there was this fucking pigeon that kept screaming any time we would have a normal conversation. He had to be the pigeon.”

“That sounds about right, and I’ve only met the guy three times.”

“God, I am so tired.” Tony said, mind overloaded.

“We could go to bed.” Peter said. “I mean… we’ve had a rough day.”

“No, kid, we need to talk about something else.” Tony said, sighing. “About you.”

“Me?”

“Look, I’ve been thinking, or Pepper made me think… but the point is, I was wrong for keeping your past from you. I should have told you, especially when you started having dreams.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I should have. It’s just… you’ve had dreams before, and they got worse the more I told you about the past… I guess… after everything that happened, all I wanted was to show you I cared, and that I wanted you safe… but I think I over did it, and I pushed both past you, and this you, away from me. And that was never what I wanted.”

Peter seemed shocked at the words, but a slow half-smile spread onto his face. “I … I don’t know what to say. I mean, I get you wanting to protect me, and it’s nice that someone wants to. I guess once May died… I figured I would never have that again. So… maybe I’ve been tense because I didn’t get where you were coming from.”

“Kid… we are too alike, and everyone knows it. Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re my kid biologically, but that aside, we’re both stubborn. Sometimes we have a hard time seeing things from others perspective, and after everything that I did… and losing you a couple of weeks ago…”

“I saw the texts… How did you lose me? What happened?”

Tony paused, “That … is a long story. Let’s just say, the stones weren’t as destroyed as we thought, and one … one, we thought, was owed your soul.”

“My soul?” Peter asked, shocked. “Why?”

“Because to undo what Thanos did… I had to sacrifice you to the soul stone, and then the stone gave you to me as a gift… but I didn’t know that. I thought you were a loophole, or an accident, so eventually, the stone was going to come after you. Not too long ago, you had to use the stone to stop an alien invasion, and essentially save the Universe, but the stone took you and I thought it was forever like it was supposed to be. You were gone a week. I was about to file a missing child report when you came back.”

“So, that’s why you were so protective.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m …” Peter paused, unsure of what to say. “I’m sorry I was such an ass about it.”

“Kid, I’m sorry I went too far with it. I was … spiraling. I am spiraling.”

Peter nodded, accepting the apology.

“So, my dream…” Peter asked, “Were they really memories? What happened with May, did that happen?”

Tony looked down, not wanting to say anything, but he knew he had to, even though honesty was hard. “Part of it. She did die of cancer, kid. But the stone saved her soul, and you had to sacrifice her to stop that alien invasion, except she did the work. She fell off a cliff, and you had to stay where you were.”

Peter looked at his hands. “So, she’s really dead?”

“Sort of,” Tony said. “Apparently that week you spent in the stone, it told you it saved her soul. She’s happily travelling the world. Well, it’s world.”

“So, she’s okay?”

“She’s okay, kid.” Tony said. “And we’re still working on you.”

“Were you stabbed?”

Tony slowly nodded. “Yeah, right in front of you. Again.”

“That sucks.”

“I’m fine, Pete.” Tony said. “I got all patched up.”

Peter seemed to be in thought, but a huge yawn cut him off from whatever he was thinking.

“Kid,” Tony said. “I think we need to sleep. I promise I’ll tell you anything else you want to know tomorrow. I’m not keeping secrets anymore, but we’re both tired. I’m probably not even making sense about half of the time.”

“I’m probably only understanding half of what you say anyways.” Peter said, sighing. “I’m sure I’ll have more questions in the morning.”

“And you have a concussion,” Tony reminded him. “So I can imagine you’re feeling way worse than me.”

“I actually feel okay. I think it’s gone.”

“It might be your healing… or Loki. Who even knows at this point?”

“Definitely not me.” Peter said, and they both laughed quietly, before they became silent.

Tony had the strong urge to pull the kid in for a hug. He hadn’t been able to that for so long, and his heart ached for it, but he didn’t know how Peter would take it. He didn’t know how _he_ would take it if the kid pulled away. But the fear of being denied was losing to the need to have his kid close, so Tony reached out anyways.

Peter did not pull away as Tony gently tugged him against his chest. Peter, in fact, seemed to relax, wrapping his own arms around his father the moment he could. Tony felt his chest warm as he laid his own head against the kid’s.

This is what Tony missed. This is what he didn’t want to let go. This is what he loved about Peter, the kid’s cuddly nature that had seeped into Tony’s heart from the moment he met him. Not having that had nearly killed both of them.

“I …” Peter said, his voice slightly muffled, but Tony could still hear him. “I don’t know if past me or anything told you, but I’m like… I don’t know how to say it, but I really like these hugs.”

Tony laughed, “Yeah I realized that, kid.”

“Is that … okay?”

“Of course it is. You somehow made me like hugs too.”

“I did?” Peter said.

“Yeah, kid. And now that you’re finally open to it, I am gonna hug you for awhile.”

“That’s cool.” Peter said, yawning again.

Tony adjusted them to a more comfortable position, where Tony was leaning against the arm of the couch, with Peter sprawled out half on top of him. Peter seemed to hum contentedly before he kid was asleep in seconds. Tony stayed awake for only a little longer, running his hands through the kid’s hair, and simply feeling content. They were okay. They had made it, and they were going to be alright. Peter didn’t hate him anymore.

Then, Tony fell asleep too, and it was the best sleep they got in weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! They finally talked! What do you think Tony is going to think of Loki once he is not sleep deprived. When do you think Peter will get all of his memories back? 
> 
> Also the pigeon from Book 1 returns. 
> 
> So, I am on the way to IKEA right now, finally. I don't have one where I live, so on my way home from the beach, I decided to stop by. Tomorrow things will be back to normal! 
> 
> I love you guys!


	13. About Loki...

****

Peter came back to consciousness slowly. He had obviously been asleep for a while, so much so that his brain felt foggy and tired, and he could feel it in his bones that he hadn’t moved the entire time he was been asleep.

Peter was still cradled to his dad’s chest. His face was pressed into the familiar crook of Tony’s neck, and he felt warm and protected, just like he should have felt.

It had been too long since he had felt this way, due to them fighting all of the time. It had been a long time since Peter had felt protected. He didn’t feel smothered or annoyed. He only felt safe.

Peter slowly began to work through what he remembered. He remembered how crazy the day before had been. He remembered his talk with Tony; he remembered Loki, and he remembered saving New York. However, he also remembered May. He remembered her dying. He remembered hugging Tony the first time he saw him after six months and he remembered the first time he had called the older man dad. At all of those memories gingerly coming to the surface of his mind, Peter opened his eyes abruptly.

The spell had worn off.

There were holes in his memory of course, but the main points were there, main points he had not had only the day before. It could only mean that Tony and Peter had resolved their issues. They were okay. They were fine.

They had done it. Together.

Peter felt an enormous amount of relief. He hated fighting with Tony. He hated fighting with anyone, but much less the one family member he had left. He had hated every second of it, even when he didn’t know his own past.

Peter knew it wasn’t over, though. There were tons of things he felt guilty for, now that he remembered everything, and Peter was sure that there were many things Tony felt guilty for too, but right then, they were okay and it didn’t matter as much as it would later.

Peter had the urge to tell Tony that his memories were back, so he gently poked at his father’s shoulder. Tony groaned at the movement.

“Kid, let me sleep.” Tony muttered. “We’ll talk in a few hours.”

“Dad, come on, wake up.”

“No, I’m sleeping.” Tony muttered, before he paused, the words finally hitting at him. The man slowly opened his eyes. “What did you just call me?”

Peter smiled, unable to help his pure joy. “I called you dad. Tony… I think the spell wore off.”

“What? Kid, you remember stuff?” Tony asked, slowly waking up.

Peter nodded, excited. “I mean, not everything right now, but most of it. Most of everything. I’m getting there.”

“So… it’s over? We did it?”

Peter nodded. “I think we did.”

Tony sat up pulled Peter into a tight hug, to which Peter happily responded to, happy to have his dad close.

“I love you, kid.” Tony said. “I missed you.”

“I never left, dad.”

“I know… but kid, I still missed you. I missed this.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“I’m gonna damn well make sure you don’t.” Tony said, and they hugged for a long time, happy to back to normal.

Hopefully they could stay that way for a while.

-

Tony and Peter didn’t move until Tony had to have some coffee. As he got up to make some, Peter followed, and they happily talked about school and every little detail that Peter remembered. It was nice to talk to Peter and not argue for once. They sat there for about an hour, just catching up.

As Tony drank his second up of coffee, though, he had a thought pop into his head.

“I need to talk to Thor, don’t I?” Tony asked. “About Loki.”  

Peter looked a little apprehensive at the change in conversation. “Are you … gonna yell at him? About not telling you?”

“I don’t know what to do, kid. He’s kept Loki a secret from all of us for months, but then again … Loki doesn’t seem to be a danger, unless it’s to my coffee. What do you think?”

Peter looked surprised. “You’re asking my opinion?”

“Yeah, of course, kid.”

“Well…” Peter said, pausing to think. “I think Loki just wants to be close to New Asgard, which is like his home, but I also think he’s been really bored there. I can go by my spider sense alone and say yeah, Loki is powerful, but I don’t think he means any harm unless he really wants to. I feel like yelling at Thor and making Thor get rid of him will just piss Loki off. Maybe if we work with him and have him on our side, he could be a powerful ally.”

Tony nodded. “I can see how he would be. He was a hell of a bitch to fight with all those years ago.”

“I mean,” Peter added, shrugging, “Thor’s forgiven him like a million and one times. And Loki’s stabbed him … like a lot.”

“He cannot go around stabbing people, though. Us humans tend to not like that.”

“He’s pretty attached to stabbing people.”

“Why?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t think it hurts Agardians in the same way it hurts us.”

“Of course it doesn’t.”

“Dad, I think if you give him rules, he’ll follow them as long as he gets to do something interesting. But I also get why you would be pissed at Thor and hesitant to let Loki anywhere near anything around here. That was a huge secret to keep from everyone… but then again, we’ve never exactly been in a place where Thor could tell us what was going on. The last few months have been crazy.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that.” Tony said.

“And like you said,” Peter added. “The only causality has been your coffee.”

“And my eardrums.” Tony said, referring to the pigeon back at the penthouse.

“Yeah, that pigeon was annoying.” Peter agreed, nodding.

“Glad you can remember that, kid.” Tony said, smiling, before he asked, “Fri, can you send Thor up here? I need to talk with him.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“So, you’re not gonna yell?” Peter asked.

“I’ll try not to, but you can play mediator if I do.” Tony said.

Peter smiled at Tony and then jumped to sit on the counter. Tony went to scold him, but didn’t have the heart to. Peter hadn’t sat on the counter since losing his memories. Tony didn’t want to ruin that, so he said nothing.

Thor came up a minute later, looking more tense than if he were about to go into major battle. Tony was surprised. He had never seen Thor look like that. He hoped Loki hadn’t started anything to make Thor so tense.

“Stark,” Thor said, the moment he saw the man. “I am assuming Peter told you about my brother, and I want you know that I never had any intentions of keeping secrets from you. I was waiting for a good time, and I could never find one.”

Oh. Thor looked like that because of Tony.

Yikes.

“Dude, it’s fine.” Tony said. “I mean, it’s not exactly fine, Loki is a threat… but what I’m trying to say is I want your side of the story. You know him best.”

Thor looked shocked. “You mean… you are not angry?”

“I was… but we all have our secrets, and you’re right. There’s never a right time to bring up something like that. I do wish it had been before Loki took Peter’s memories but… from the sounds of it, it was gonna happen either way.”

“Loki is not well controlled.” Thor said, taking a deep breath. “My father never learned that lesson, however I have.”

“You’re right. He can’t be controlled. So, the main question here is, is he a threat to any of us?”

“Depends on what you mean as a threat.” Thor said, ominously.

“Is he going to try to take over the Earth again?” Tony asked, growing nervous. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do if Loki _did_ want to take over the Earth like he had all those years ago.

“No, no.” Thor replied, and Tony felt slightly better. “His quest for power has been largely stopped. I made him the head of the cultural department of New Asgard and he seems quite happy with it. Though that does keep him busy, I think he is bored of the same people, and he is curious as to what Earth is. He wants to be able to explore that as himself as Loki, not in disguise as he has been.”

“And what happens when he figures out what Earth is? What happens when he gets bored again?”

“Bad theater about Earth, probably.” Thor said.

That was not the answer Tony expected. So, he said, “You really think he is not a danger?”

“No, I don’t. Not in terms of harming anyone. He needs to learn Earth’s ways and he needs to get out of New Asgard before he does lose his mind again.”

“Right, which we don’t want. As long as he doesn’t hurt anyone, we should be good.”

“Well, he does have an affinity for stabbing people,” Thor said, and Tony took a deep breath, glad Peter had warned him about Loki liking to stab people before Thor told him, “But I will ensure he does not kill anyone though… that is, if you are okay with him being here.”

“I don’t know if I’m okay with it. But then again, sending him away is just gonna piss him off, just like keeping him in New Asgard did.”

“You are right.” Thor said, nodding.

“I want to talk to the rest of the Avengers about it.” Tony said. “Just because I own this place doesn’t mean I get to make all of the calls. If they agree, then I want to meet him in a place where he won’t kill me or throw me out of a building again.”

“He threw you out of a building?” Peter asked, looking shocked.

“It was a long time ago.” Tony replied, looking over at the kid.

“I will see if I can get him to apologize about that.” Thor said. “Us Asgardians live a long life, so forgiveness is easy for us, however I know humans can be different. Perhaps we can come to an agreement.”

“I hope so.” Tony said.

“For what it is worth, Stark, I am sorry I did not tell you about Loki. When he arrived, I was so happy that someone from my family was around, I did not think of the repercussions of keeping it a secret until it was too late.”

“I get it, point break.” Tony said, truthfully. “We’ve all been there when it comes to family.”

Thor’s eyes flickered over to Peter, and Tony would say the god looked relieved at how the conversation had gone.

“Perhaps soon we can go to New Asgard to visit Loki where he is.” Thor said. “I am sure he will be happy to see you, though I am also sure he will know well in advance what our plans are.”

“What, does he have all knowing powers?” Tony asked, mostly joking.

“No, he’s just everywhere.” Peter said. “Also, he has a tracking spell on Thor.”

“One of these days I will figure out how to get it off, but his magic is not mine to know.” Thor said, looking both irritated and exasperated with his brother all in one moment. “Only my mother was good with him.”

“I’m surprised even she knew what to do.” Tony said.

Thor only nodded, before saying, “Thank you, to you both, for being so understanding about the situation.”

“I’m trying out a new flavor of human that actually requires being nice. If I don’t my kid loses his memories to a trickster god.” Tony said jokingly.

“Yes, well, that was his version of helping.” Thor replied. “He does not have a good moral compass.”

“I would make a smart-ass comment but I have a feeling he’s here.” Tony said, though he was mostly joking again, trying to lighten the mood. At Thor’s reaction, he knew the god had not taken it as a joke.

“Probably.” Thor said, and Tony chuckled nervously in response. He looked around, wondering if Loki was really there, and paused when he saw that damn pigeon almost laughing at him outside.

Loki was good, he would give him that much. Tony decided to ignore it, hoping he didn’t look completely insane.

Tony didn’t really understand much of his life, but then again, he never did these days. He probably never would, but that was just how life as an Avenger went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! Peter is back! The fighting is over! 
> 
> Just a few more chapters here until this book is completed! I do have a sequel planned that will be coming soon!


	14. Agreements and Pranks

Getting the Avengers to agree was a lot of back and forth. They sat in the meeting room for hours, some being for going to talk to Loki, some being against. In the end, Peter had been the one to convince them, giving valid points that not even Natasha or Steve could argue with.

So, that was how, two weeks later, Tony and Peter found themselves in new Asgard. Tony had to admit, it was beautiful there. It was a perfect mix of what Thor had described Asgard to be, and what Tony would say a town on Earth was. To the normal eye, nothing was amiss, which was exactly what it needed to be.

Tony and Peter, as they got into the town, both stopped to talk to a few of the Asgardians, who said they were enjoying Earth, and loved to visit the nearby towns in their free time. Peter had asked if Loki was allowed to visit as well, but apparently, Loki was not allowed to leave New Asgard at all. Being in such a small town would make anyone go stir crazy after a while, and Loki had to be no exception.

But how ever much they talked about it, or they understood what Loki was going through, Tony was still extremely nervous the closer they got actually to talking to Loki. When they arrived at the house where Loki and Thor lived, Tony was a barely contained mess.

Thor had gone ahead and gotten the God of Mischief ready, while Tony and Peter waited outside, ready to talk out in the open. Tony wished he could have been calm and collected like he had wanted to be, but it was becoming apparent he was not.

No matter how hard Tony tried, he could only see their fight in New York whenever he thought of Loki. He could only see the god throwing him out of a building, and trying to turn him against his own team. He knew it had been years, and knew, to Thor and Loki, it was ages ago. Plus, a lot had happened since then.

But Tony was a human, and no matter how many times he forgave someone, no matter how many times he let something go, it didn’t get easier any of the times he had to.

However, this time Tony had Peter. The kid was right there next to him, and understood, more than most, what Tony was going through. Peter had already somehow noticed Tony’s internal turmoil, just like he always did, and he gently put a hand on his father’s shoulder. Peter said, with a small smile, “It’s gonna be okay, dad.”

And for the first time, Tony believed it. If Peter thought it was going to be okay, then hopefully it would be. The kid had a spider sense that had saved them all too many times to count, and if it wasn’t going off, then they would be okay.

So, Tony shuffled closer to one of his few sources of comfort, his kid, who was also one of the few people he trusted with his life, and got ready to meet the god of mischief for the second time. Hopefully this would go better than the last time they had met.

Thor and Loki stepped outside. Instantly, Tony noticed the difference between this Loki and the Loki he had met before. Loki before had looked almost sickly, with his hair a stiff mess and dark circles under his eyes that were only rivalled by Tony’s own. That version of Loki was all Tony could ever think about when someone mentioned the god.

However, this version was definitely still the same man, or god, but it was like Tony was looking at someone else. It must have been how others felt from knowing Tony himself before he was Iron Man, compared to now.

Loki did not have those dark circles under his eyes. His gaze was still cold and calculating but had a more mischievous air to it rather than devious one as it had been before. Loki’s hair was longer, but better kept than it had been before, perhaps by Thor’s insistence.

This Loki’s eyes held tricks, not villainy. Tony felt a little better at seeing him in person. He would gladly have Peter know this Loki rather than the version of him Tony knew.

“Well, there is.” Tony said, going for friendly, but winding up sounding a little nervous. “Loki himself.

“Stark,” Loki said. “You’ve changed. You look … better.”

“I’m sure you’ve seen me before.” Tony said.

“I have.”

Tony took a deep breath and stepped forward, holding out his hand in what was clearly a handshake, but was more metaphorically an olive branch extended to Loki. The god stared at it for a moment, before he slowly shook Tony’s hand.

Loki’s hand was slightly cold, but there was no feeling of magic or malice in the handshake. It made Tony trust him a little more and gave him the confidence.

“How’ve you been?” Tony asked, once the handshake was over.

“How have I … been?” Loki asked, looking confused. He glanced over at Thor before his eyes settled back on Tony. “I figured you would be much angrier than this. I thought I would have to do my fair share of convincing.”

“I did as well.” Thor added. “Are you okay, Stark?”

“I’m trying out a new thing where when people save my kid, I’m nice to them.” Tony replied to them both.

“But I took his memories.” Loki said. “Thor told me that was very rude. In fact, he yelled it to me.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t too happy about that one, but if there is anything your spell did do, is it made us fix some problems that we might have not fixed otherwise.” Tony said, “Look, as long you stay out of our heads, we shouldn’t have any more problems.”  

“You’re very … forgiving, Stark. Much more so than I thought you would be.”

“I suppose we’ve both changed then.” Tony said.

 “Time does that to people.” Loki replied.

“I suppose it does.” Tony said, before he felt Peter’s eyes on him. “I would introduce you to my kid, but you’ve already met.”

“Yes, we have.” Loki said, looking over at the kid. “Hello, Peter. I trust your head is doing well.”

“Yeah, it’s good.” Peter replied, before asking, “Did you have anything to do with that?”

“Not really, but I did make sure your metabolism was at its best functioning rate. You do need to eat more, if I’m not mistaken.”

There was a lot to take in during Loki and Peter’s short exchange. First of all, Loki was calling Peter by his first name, which he didn’t even do to Tony. Also, the god was also gently telling Peter he needed to eat more, which was one thing Tony could definitely agree with him on.

“Uh, yeah,” Peter said, rubbing the back of his neck. “About that, I do eat more now, but since I lost my memories… I didn’t exactly know to, so…”

“You are saying this is my fault.” Loki said, but before Tony could even become worried at the change in the conversation, Loki shrugged and said, “That’s fair.”

“So, quick question, of the curious variety,” Tony said, “Did you happen to make my coffee explode on me the other day?”

“Loki!” Thor said, and Tony was completely taken aback at the tone of voice Thor was using. Tony had never heard it before in his life. It was almost… scolding. “You were not supposed to leave New Asgard!”

“I was here.” Loki said, rolling his eyes. “I just made some things happen… from here. It was hilarious, I made sure Stark’s … A.I. friend recorded it. If see it sometime, you will understand.”

“You are wanting refuge from Stark in his own Tower.” Thor said, shaking his head. “You cannot make horrible things happen to him, and besides, that was a waste of good coffee!”

“I do not understand your fascination with that beverage.” Loki said. “It is disgusting.”

“I agree with you.” Peter said.

Loki gave the kid a half smile.

“Look,” Tony said, “Even I can admit a good joke. It was hilarious. I’ve even watched it over fifty times.”

“He showed it to me too. It’s pretty awesome.” Peter added.

“So, you two do appreciate good humor.” Loki said. “Thor, here, is such a bore.”

“I am not!” Thor sputtered.

“The harmless stuff is great.” Tony replied, ignoring Thor’s indignation. “Honestly that kind of thing is what we need around the Tower. I would gladly let you come around if you would just scare the shit out of Captain America just one time.”

“I could do it one hundred.” Loki said, looking genuinely interested.

“As long as it doesn’t involve stabbing anyone.”

“Okay … fifty, then.” Loki said.

“We do have to have a few rules, not stabbing humans is one of them … but if you can keep your shit together, Loki, you’re welcome at the Tower.” Tony said. “I’ve already talked to the team about it.”

Loki looked surprised, and asked, “Why are you doing this, Stark? Why would you help me?”

Tony sighed. “A huge part of me wants to say something heroic like I’m a good person, or some sentimental shit like that, but we can both play pranks on every one of the Avengers, so that’s more than likely the real reason. I also owe you one for saving Peter.”

Peter glanced at Tony, who smiled at him, and Loki looked almost happy at the news. Thor patted Tony on the shoulder, smiling himself.

“I thank you, Stark, for your kindness. Being a father has done you well.” Thor said.

“Yeah, it’s done something.” Tony said.

“I care not for thanks,” Loki said, “Though I am thankful, Stark.” He added at seeing Thor’s glare. “However, I am much more interested in scaring the great Captain America. Tell me, what do you have in mind?”

Tony smiled, his hesitancy mostly gone after talking to Loki directly. Maybe this would all work out, and maybe, Loki would be a good addition to the team.

It certainly felt like things were working out for once.   

-

Three days later, the stage was set, and the prank was ready. Peter was on the ceiling of the training room, overlooking the entire thing that was going to be going down. The entire team knew Loki was in the Tower most of the time now, and they had all talked to him once or twice, but the most hesitant by far was Steve.

Peter had to partially agree with Thor on this idea. Playing a prank on Steve when he was already so hesitant about the god of mischief being in Avengers Tower was probably a bad idea.

However, the comedic gold of what was about to happen in the training room easily overtook any of Peter’s hesitancy about the idea. Peter liked Steve. He really looked up to him, but there was something about making the man scream in fear that was so hilarious not even Peter could resist.

Thor, however, had to be taken out from the planning of the prank, which meant that the God of Thunder had no idea what was about to happen, which only served their purposes well.

Neither Thor nor Steve noticed Peter sitting on the ceiling of the training room watching. In fact, no one did. If they had, it probably would have ruined the prank. Peter had no reason to be in the training room in the first place.

Peter really wouldn’t have needed to be down there if the training room had a camera, but F.R.I.D.A.Y. did not have eyes in the training room, or at least working eyes. Apparently, the camera that used to monitor the training room had been damaged when it recorded a hilarious fight between Sam and Nat that everyone was dying to know more about. Nat, however, didn’t leave any evidence, so no one knew what truly happened between the two, and Sam had refused to talk.

So, Peter had his phone out and he was ready to record the prank the old-fashioned way. Once Thor and Steve were done training, he knew that was his cue to start recording, and to signal Loki to do his job.  

With no other warning, other than Peter’s subtle signal, Loki turned into a giant snake in the middle of the training room. It was no secret that Steve hated snakes, so when the Captain saw the snake in front of him, he screamed loudly, and hid behind Thor, who Peter thought was immediately going to catch on to the prank, having known Loki for so long, but did not seem to get it whatsoever.

“A friendly snake!” Thor bellowed, looking happily at the creature in front of him.

“Thor!” Steve said, gripping him tightly. “Don’t do it! Don’t touch the snake!”

“But snakes are friendly! I love snakes!” Thor said, looking more joyous than Peter had ever seen him.

“They can kill you! That one is obviously poisonous! Look at its beady eyes!”

“Don’t hurt its feelings!”

At moment, Loki, as the snake, turned to look directly at Peter with a hilarious unamused expression on his face. It looked at as Loki has seen all of this before. Peter struggled to contain himself, not wanting to ruin the fun. He did, however, zoom in on Loki’s face.

“It’s a monster!” Steve said, and Loki’s unamused face turned quickly into an offended one. He turned back around to glare at Steve. “Look at its teeth!”

Loki reared back and hissed at them. Steve screamed again and hid behind Thor.

“Please save me, Thor.” Steve said, and Peter nearly fell from the ceiling.

Thor bravely walked up to the snake and pat its head.

“You won’t hurt dear Steve, will you my lovely friend?” Thor said, his voice surprisingly relaxing as he gently pet the snake on the head. Loki did not attack his brother, or stab him, like Peter would have thought he would have done. In fact, Loki leaned in to the petting ever so slightly, but released his form and turned back into his usual attire with a smirk on his face.

“Loki!” Thor yelled, looking angry and jumping back. “I thought there was a real snake here!”

“Brother, how would a snake get into a Tower?” Loki said, rolling his eyes. “We are thirty floors up.”

“I thought perhaps snakes could still fly here!”

Steve, meanwhile, looked like he had been smacked in the face. Peter zoomed in on his hilarious expression.

“I miss the 1940s…” Steve muttered, but Peter’s hearing picked up on it. He only hoped the camera did too. Peter carefully snuck out of the training room, somehow going unnoticed and brought his phone to Tony, where they both nearly passed out from laughing at what had just happened.

Then, there was the sound of an explosion that sounded like Thor attacking Loki that had them both rushing back to the training room, wondering what the hell was going on. They arrived to see Thor stabbed, and Loki gone.

Peter had thought Tony would be angry. Technically Loki was not allowed to stab anyone, but Thor was fine, and Tony had only said no _humans_ could be stabbed. Apparently, Thor had gotten a good hit in as well, and assured both Tony and Peter that this was usual for the two.

Neither Tony or Peter got it, but accepted it, even though Steve was still wondering what the hell had just happened.

And that was how life in Tower was going to go, Peter figured. Pranks, stabbing and Thor shooting Loki with lightning.

It was awesome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just one more chapter left. I know it may seem all wrapped up, but there is more coming, I promise. :)
> 
> Also, if you all are wondering why I am late today, I woke up this morning with a mega migraine and could not move until about 11 my time, which is when I usually post. So all of today has basically been me playing catch up. Plus yesterday I got back from vacation so it was double catch up for me. :/ Oh well! I managed to get it all done anyways. :)


	15. A Purpose

“So… what is the point to the game?” Loki asked, from where he was sitting on the table.

“Can’t you use furniture like a normal human being?” Tony asked, slightly irritated that Loki was sitting on furniture again, and that he was being a bad influence on Peter. Ever since the god had been coming around the Tower more, the kid had been sitting on more and more things he shouldn’t be and Tony knew it had to be Loki. It was only a matter of time before Pepper came back and lectured them both.

“No.” Loki replied, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. “Also, I am not a human being.”

“Brother, come and sit on the couch.” Thor said, interrupting the retort Tony was about to fire at Loki, who rolled his eyes in response, so Thor added, “You can see me destroy everyone easier from over here.”

“There is murder is in this game?” Loki asked, hopping from the table and walking over curiously.

“Kind of,” Peter answered, from where he was sitting close by Tony’s side. “I mean it does turn people against each other and it can throw people off of cliffs.”

“You should have stated this first. I would have been far more interested.” Loki said, sitting next to Thor. He opened the user manual to read it.

“Yeah, yeah. Are you playing, Locust?” Tony said, using the nickname that had started from when Tony had mistyped Loki’s name in a text. It had stuck around too easily.

“I hate that name.” Loki said. “Thor, is it alright if I murder Stark in the game?”

“By all means.” Thor replied.

“Prepare to die… Mr. Stank.” Loki said, a smug expression on his face.

“How the hell do you know about that?” Tony asked, shocked at hearing the name he thought he had erased from existence. Had Rhodey told him? Tony didn’t think Loki and Rhodey were on speaking terms, but nothing surprised him these days.

“Stank?” Peter said, amused. “Tony Stank?”

“Repeat that, kid, and you’re grounded.”

“I am everywhere, Stark.” Loki replied, looking smug. “I am all knowing, and I am good at remembering horrible nicknames.”

“I will admit.” Thor said, looking at Tony’s apologetically. “That is a good one.”

“No, no, it isn’t. None of you are using that.” Tony said.

“You cannot stop us.” Loki said, shrugging.

“This is my floor. You all are hanging out on my floor! In my Tower!” Tony said.

“Yes, and if you make me leave, that means I will run into others who are all the more people I can tell about the great Tony Stank.” Loki said.

“You’re a little shit, Loki.” Tony said, shaking his head.

“That is truly a great honor.” Loki said.

Tony couldn’t decide if he loved or hated having Loki around, but one thing was for sure, the Tower definitely was livelier. Loki had been using his powers only for mild pranks, which kept the god happy, and served for free entertainment in the Tower. Tony was considering cancelling the cable because he was so entertained by what was going on.

Tony sat back on the couch as Thor started the game. Loki read the entire user manual in the time it took the game to load, so he would know how to play. Peter looked shocked that he didn’t have to show Loki how to use the controls, and Tony felt the same. Who knew the God of Mischief could read and entire use manual in mere seconds?

When the game started, Loki was confident in his knowledge of the game, so much so that his first action was to hit Tony with three shells back to back.

“Hey, you little asshole!” Tony yelled, being thrown to last place. Loki then went after Peter, who was in first.

“Brother, is this an appropriate replacement for stabbing people?” Loki asked. “Because I find this very entertaining.”

Thor laughed, as Tony was hit with another red shell, somehow by Loki. “Yes, it is!” Thor said. “I approve of this, Loki.”

“I hate this!” Tony yelled, getting pissed. “I hate all of you.”

A blue shell hit Peter and had the kid yelling, “Dude! Don’t hit me with your blue shells! I literally got you here!”

“I bow to no man.” Loki replied. “Prepare for death.”

It was needless to say, Loki got first place… in every single game they played.

“We need to practice more.” Peter said to Tony, their own Mario-Kart rivalry forgotten.

“You bet your ass we do.” Tony replied. “Do you even need school? Because we can just get you a diploma for this game.”

“Deal.” Peter said.

“You will never defeat me.” Loki said, “I am better than you all!”

“I sort of regret showing you this.” Thor said, looking at Loki with a concerned expression on his face. “But then again, seeing Stark so upset is definitely a fun pastime.”

“You’re all dead to me.” Tony muttered, and they started another game.

As they played another round, Tony only in fifth, a thought hit him, one that he didn’t want to have. It immediately ruined his focus on the game, and he excused himself to go down to the lab as everyone else continued to have fun.

Tony and Strange never did figure out what had happened with the soul stone. The last they heard, the soul stone might have not even been in this plane of existence. Who knows where it had gotten to?

Tony may have been worrying over nothing, but there was a part of him, the deep feeling in his gut, that he trusted, that said that it wasn’t over. The soul stone wasn’t just gone. It didn’t just disappear, and Tony had the sinister idea that it was going to resurface, and somehow, he and Peter were going to be in the middle of it, just like they always were.

There was another part of him that hoped it wasn’t true. There was a part of Tony that still believed he could rest, that he could retire, and be done being a hero.

However, he knew that was wrong.

Something was coming.

Tony just didn’t know what.

-

Things were different, but May knew they would be the moment she accepted the soul stone’s offer. A different life, it had said. This was the different life. Far away from home, May had something to do, a new purpose. For a long time, her purpose had been raising Peter, and now?

It was different. She didn’t exactly know what that entailed, but she had a feeling she couldn’t run from it for long. So, May took in her surroundings, ready to begin whatever it was she had to do.

This was May’s first alien world that she had been on where there was other life. With her appearance, as it always had been, she was an outsider, someone different. This was not her world, and she was sure everyone knew it. But May had a job to do, a purpose to fulfill, and being an outsider, being a human, was not something she could worry about. She had to focus.

So, May looked ahead, and began walking into a nearby town. She had a lot of learning to do, a lot of things to catch up on. She had been gone for far too long.

The only problem was, May Parker was not alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff, some drama. What do you think of May? 
> 
> The sequel to this should be up soon!
> 
> Please let me know what you think!


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